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Telecom industry is one of the most promising sector for an economy but delay in policies are major roadblocks in rapid development of this industry. VOICE&DATA in association with Lirne asia, in the recent event on 'Challenging Policy and Regulatory Environment' broached this issue in presence of leading industry's experts from across the region. The event was held in New Delhi on March 6, 2009. And graced by over seventy key experts of the telecom industry.

The aim of the event was to understand and share the key challenges in the Indian policy and regulatory environment and the solutions available. The idea was to bring stakeholders together on a single platform to discuss the various issues, and the alternatives to resolve them.

Delivering the keynote address, RN Prabhakar, member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India explained the challenges faced by a regulator during the course of development. He also shared his opinion on different aspects of the Indian telecom market.

“For a regulator, it is a challenge to take care of things like consumer protection and growth, harmony among various service providers and affordable high quality services while maintaining the growth,” said Prabhakar.

In his special address on Nepal's telecom market and its challenges, Anand Raj Khanal, director & secretary, Nepal Telecommunications Authority elucidated the different aspects of telecommunications in Nepal and the challenges in the way of taking growth to the next level. According to him, Nepal is also grappling with the same challenges as India. “Quality of Service, level playing field, Internet telephony, etc are the challenges that we need to focus on,” he said.

Panelists at the event (L-R): Naresh Ajwani, president, consumer infrastructure & operations of Sify; Bharat Bhatia, regional director, India, SAARC and South East Asia, Motorola; CS Rao, chairman of WiMax Forum; Rohan Samarajiva, chair & CEO, LIRNEasia; Baburajan K, executive editor, Voice&Data; Satyen Gupta, chief regulatory advisor, SAARC, British Telecom; Sukanta Dey, president, emerging business of Tata Teleservices; NK Goyal, president of CMAI, and Payal Malik, senior research fellow of LIRNEasia

“Unlike in India, in Nepal the regulator is also the licensor who assigns the spectrum and also the custodian of the USO Fund. I would want to ask, what would have been the growth of India had all the power been with a single regulator only?” he commented.

The event also saw the release of the Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) survey which interestingly revealed that India does not have the lowest tariffs in the world and that it is only a perception. Instead, it is Pakistan who is the driver of low tariff rates.

The survey was jointly released by Raymond Armes, deputy CEO, Sistema Shyam Teleservices and Rohan Samarajiva, chair & CEO, LIRNEasia.

TRE Survey, jointly released by Raymond Armes, deputy CEO, Sistema Shyam Teleservices and Rohan Samarajiva, chair & CEO, LIRNE, asia

The release was followed by a presentation on 'Telecom Environment in Emerging Asia vs India', jointly presented by Rohan Samarajiva of LIRNEasia and Payal Malik, senior research fellow, LIRNEasia.

The presentation reflected highlights of the TRE survey and different needs and challenges of India in comparison to emerging Asian nations. “Because of the division of power, there is a lot of uncertainty in the Indian telecom sector,” said Payal Malik.


“For a regulator it is a challenge to take care of things like consumer protection and growth; harmony among various service providers; and affordable high quality services while maintaining growth” RN Prabhakar, member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India	“Quality of service, level playing fields, Internet telephony, etc, are the challenges that we need to focus on” Anand Raj Khanal, director & secretary, Nepal Telecommunications Authority

The event also had a panel discussion on 'Challenging Policy and Regulatory Environment,' in which panelists gave different perspectives on the requirement of new business model, rural telecom needs, broadband growth, etc to take the growth to new heights.


“Because of the division of power, there is a lot of uncertainty in the Indian telecom sector” Payal Malik senior research fellow, LIRNEasia	“Proper disbursement and utilization of USO fund is imperative for the next level of telecom growth” Rohan Samarajiva, chair & CEO, LIRNEasia

The discussion panel included Baburajan K, executive editor, Voice&Data; Naresh Ajwani, president, consumer infrastructure & operations, Sify; Satyen Gupta, chief regulatory advisor, SAARC region, British Telecom; Sukanta Dey, president, emerging business, Tata Teleservices; CS Rao, chairman, WiMax Forum; Bharat Bhatia, regional director, India, SAARC and South East Asia, Motorola; NK Goyal, president, CMAI; Rohan Samarajiva, Chair & CEO, LIRNEasia; and Payal Malik, senior research fellow of LIRNEasia.

“Quality of service, level playing fields, Internet telephony, etc, are the challenges that we need to focus on”

Anand Raj Khanal, director & secretary, Nepal Telecommunications Authority

The event brought to light the regulatory challenges of the telecom sector and what needs to be done for better growth. The consensus was that there needs to be a strong focus on rural India. The real growth is happening at the bottom of the pyramid and it is very essential to have low price models to reach more rural customers. Delay in policies and implementations are major constraints for growth. The country has immense potentials in the telecom sector, but there is a need to open up the market. Experts also felt that MVNO and MNO should have been allowed earlier.

Jatinder Singh
jatinders@cybermedia.co.in