Dear Mr Dayanidhi,

Almost 15 months back I had written a short letter to your predecessor, giving him a list of expectations that this telecom industry and telecom users had from him. Arun Shourie never replied to that letter, which was not expected from a communications minister, but I will admit, that he put in his best efforts in taking the industry ahead. Though, there were plenty of issues with regards to his accessibility to end users, he definitely brought in a lot of reforms.

The good thing is that you have come in at the time when not only the financial year 2004–05 is beginning, but also the last fiscal closed on a very positive note. The entire industry is in the process of making and rolling out new plans for the new fiscal, which looks even more promising. Everybody is looking up to you.

You will get a team of very good advisors, I am sure, but let me take the liberty of sharing some of the thoughts that I have been able to put together from my interaction with our readers, who are primarily service providers, and enterprise users. We feel, these ideas are important, especially, if you want to get into the game with long term plans.

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n Take telecom users into confidence. Find out what enterprise users want. They are the biggest users of telecom services, and clearly know what their requirements are. They are very smart and know what is happening on the communications technology front, and what are the international trends.

n Coming from a TV broadcasting background, you would know that convergence of technologies, products, and services is happening. It is a reality, and will be the driver. Keep that in mind for all your future policy planning.

n To achieve the telecom plans and targets set, a lot of investment will be needed. Foreign and private investment will be the key. Win their confidence, and take them along. Otherwise, the road will be too long. Have a roadmap, get a policy to suite that, and stick to what you state.

n Telecom is not only about large business users. It's also about villages and the common man on the streets. Finally, he will need to be equipped for this revolution to succeed. The government as well as private operators have a role to play here, and commitments to keep. We all want communications to be the enabler for everybody, and not to help in creating a digital divide.

n You are going to be the government's face for telecom in India, but do not forget the case of Indian software success, which happened more because the government did not get involved in it. It might be a good idea to try out minimum state interference in telecom too.

I am sure you will have a telecom vision for India. Mr Shourie did not seem to even like the word vision, but it helps in many ways. Operationally, all your targets and objectives would revolve around that. And industry players and users will know that you really care about telecom. A vision statement for Indian telecom will help in creating excitement, and taking more people along.

Ibrahim Ahmad