According to the Report, the licensing authority would be required to grant licence to any person for establishing, maintaining, and/operating any or all of the following services:

• Network facilities or infrastructure, including earth stations, (b) fixed links and cables; (c) public payphone facilities; (d) radio communications transmitters and links; (e) satellite hubs; (f) towers, poles, ducts and pits used in conjunction with other network facilities, and (g) such other network facilities as may be notified by Central Government from time to time.

• Network services including bandwidth services (b) Direct-to-home delivery services; (c) Local delivery services; (d) Cellular mobile services; (e) Customer access services; (f) Mobile satellite services; and (g) Such other network services as may be notified by Central Government from time to time.

• Application on any network service including PSTN telephony; (b) Public cellular telephony services; (c) IP telephony; (d) Public payphone service; (e) Public switched data service; and (f) Such other application services as may be notified by Central Government from time to time and

• Content application service including Terrestrial Broadcasting; (b) Terrestrial Television Broadcasting; (c) Satellite Radio Broadcasting; (d) Satellite Television Broadcasting (e) Such other Content Application Services as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time.

Communication in Rural Areas

The Report states that the Commission will ensure that communication facilities are made available to all uncovered areas including the rural, remote, hilly and tribal areas. It ensures that consumers in all regions of the country, including low-income consumers and those in rural and insular areas should have access to telecommunications and information services, including interexchange services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas.

Type of technology/services

It will be technology-neutral and service-sector neutral. Any service can be provided using any technology. (One can hope Internet telephony and Limited Mobility over basic phone finally becomes a reality.)

Implications

The question is should we get excited about it? At ground level much needs to be done. The greatest hurdle will be the process of creation of a unified Ministry for Convergence. Political stakes will be high and no ministry or minister for that matter would be ready to lose its clout in the decision making process. There would obviously be strong resistance from the bureaucracy also. Given the current political equations, it would be very difficult to bring diverse ministries under one roof.

Sudesh Prasad