TRAI plans to sketch long-term roadmap to keep country 'Tech-Ready'

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The newly-appointed TRAI chairperson JS Sarma will focus on preparing long-term policy for the telecom industry, which is currently lacking in the system. After NTP 1999, India never had a long-term telecom policy covering various topics. The country's broadband policy has failed to deliver on its promises.

Other major areas that will get attention from the telecom regulator include spectrum allocation and management policies, measures to improve broadband penetration and policies for futuristic technologies like LTE.

Speaking to Voice&Data, JS Sarma said, “Drawing a policy for a longer term, may be for a period of five years, is definitely on our mind. It may not be exactly on the lines of the model that Taiwan and Japan follow. We will keep our focus on regulatory aspect.”

“The world is already heading towards higher versions. Most of the developed countries are on their way of deploying LTE. In the next 3-4 years more activity will be around 4G. So, to prepare for that we will have to start work now,” Sarma said.

According to a recent study by ABI Research, at least 12 operators are committed to deploying LTE networks and offering LTE-based services to their subscribers in 2010. But spectrum allocation problems are still impeding global roll-out.

The research report says by 2011 end there will be nearly 34 mn users worldwide subscribing to the LTE broadband services, and the numbers could be higher if all of the world's regulators had made the required spectrum available. Currently, India will not be able to meet spectrum requirements for offering LTE services by operators. A long term roadmap from the regulator will assist operators to plan their investments and control Capex and Opex.

“Regulatory provisions should be in sync with the aim of keeping the country 'Tech Ready' as technology can not be bound by time,” Sarma added.

Expressing concern over the sluggish growth of mobile in rural areas and broadband in the country, Sarma said, the regulator is exploring the idea of getting the number of subscribers independently audited. “To ensure coverage to 100% population in the rural area we will have to give a relook at what must be done. Using optic fibre infrastructure will play a key role in some parts of the country,” he added.

Broadband policy was announced by the Department of Telecom in 2004 and it set a target of 2 crore broadband subscribers by 2010. As the year is approaching, the figures are nowhere near the target. India's total broadband subscriber base reached 62.8 lakh by the end of April 2009, as against 62.2 lakh by the end of March 2009.

Stringent policies for the broadcast segment are also in the pipeline. The foremost issue that Sarma has taken up after moving to the chair is the task of fixing tariff for cable TV services in non-CAS areas. The move follows the Supreme Court order, asking TRAI to look into the matter. Trai has also been asked to consider the feasibility of putting a cap on carriage and placement charges.

Next two years will be critical for the telecom industry. Telcos are looking for making huge investments in 3G, WiMax, MVNO, MNP, VoIP and expansion in rural areas for mobile and broadband. Timely action from the regulator and other stakeholders will take the Indian telecom landscape to the next level.