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It was indeed heartening to know that quality of service is on top of the agenda for the new TRAI chief Nripendra Mishra. And that he is also worried about the urban digital divide, and the problems related to interconnect, and so on. As the head of telecom regulatory body, he has his job very clearly cut out before him.

But what is a little worrying is that Mishra sounds very much like the old world bureaucrat who will try out all options, take all parties concerned-incumbents, new operators, government-into confidence, have dialogues, be very understanding to everybody's concerns, and then take decisions. That would be like starting from scratch. Everybody's position on key but contentious issues such as spectrum and interconnect is well known. Former TRAI head Pradeep Baijal's notes will have enough information on that. There is nothing new that the new TRAI chief is going to discover if he goes back into discussions once again. The starting point should be from where Baijal left. Otherwise, by the time Mishra completes the consultation process, his tenure will be over.

One understands that Mishra will like to be as democratic as he can in decision making, but time is definitely on his side. That should be an important factor that he must keep in mind. Telecom liberalization started almost a decade back, and India has made considerable progress in terms of tele-density. But the story does not end there. In fact the story begins now.

Just look at the speed with which service providers are announcing new services, all of which are based on growing technologies and emerging opportunities. For instance, the Department of Posts is in the midst of tying up with Reliance Infocomm for a service that will allow Reliance subscribers track the status of their SpeedPost letters and parcels. And will give them the freedom to request when and where their packet can be delivered. In Maharashtra alone, there are over 51,000 SpeedPost bookings everyday.

It would not be incorrect to say that Indian operators are actively planning to offer services that are perhaps the latest in the world. Indian TV broadcaster Doordarshan, for instance, is working with handset vendors such as Motorola, Nokia and LG and Reliance and Bharti for offering mobile TV based on Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld devices (DVB-H) to subscribers. According to some reports, Doordarshan will test out over 200 models of handsets from various companies. There cannot be more clear signals for the new TRAI chief. Nobody is going to wait. TRAI should also therefore get cracking. The services that operators and cell phone manufacturers are experimenting with will have a very bumpy ride if issues such as interconnect and adequate spectrum allocation are not settled fast.

At this stage when a lot of to and fro has already happened on basic issues, it might be a good idea to first announce spectrum and interconnect decisions, which are liberal and progressive for the new operators so that they are encouraged to take competition to new heights; which gives certain incentives to the incumbents so that they are encouraged to expand to rural areas, and unbundled and interconnect; and which is tough on Government and Defence which sees spectrum as its personal property. And secondly, come down heavily on unfair trade practices among operators including poor quality of service. If these steps are taken, without too much re-work and time loss, all the stakeholders including subscribers and the telecom industry will have a big relief.

ibrahima@cybermedia.co.in