Despite the positive recommendations of the NTP ’99 for the Fixed Service Providers (FSP), things did not move as expected in the basic services’ area last year. There was only one addition to the list of basic services provider in the country. The addition was Tata Teleservices, which started its operation on 31 March 1999. In a very short period of about a year, it increased its tally to 35,000 subscribers. It was way ahead of Hughes Tele.com, which had a subscriber base of 22,000. The third private operator in the area is Bharti Telenet. As of today, the total installed capacity of DELs in the country stands at 266.55 lakh. Out of that the Department of Telecom (DoT) has installed 265.1 lakh and the three private operators have together installed 1.45 lakh.

The Private Operators

Due to the very infant nature of private basic services, DoT still continues to remain as the dominant basic service provider with 99.54 percent connections while the private operators contribute a mere 0.55 percent.

Unfortunately, the private operators have failed to realize the business potential of rural India. They concentrate on the "more lucrative" cities while laying their infrastructure. Their misplaced optimism on the urban sector has made them forgo their commitments to rural areas. According to Government policy, 10 percent of the total connections given by the private operators have to be in rural areas. In the six states where licences were given, the total Village Public Telephones (VPTs) to be installed by private operators were 84,040. Till date, these operators have provided only a pathetic 12.

Bharti Telenet

Bharti Telenet is India’s first and the largest private telephone service network in India. Ever since the launch of its service in Indore on 4 June 1998, the company has expanded its network to over 22 cities and towns of Madhya Pradesh. AirTel plans to connect the entire state by its 3,500-km fibre optic transmission network for providing broadband and Internet services to its customers. 2,100 km of that has already been laid.

The company has joined hands with Bharti BT Internet to offer free Internet service to AirTel subscribers in Madhya Pradesh. To avail of the service, subscribers will have to dial 1500 and fill an online form. After that they can surf the Net for unlimited hours at the rate of a local phone call.

Hughes Tele.com

Having started its operations in October 1998, Hughes Tele.com is planning to be the first private telecom services company to go for IPO in the country. The IPO will also be one of the biggest infrastructure issues and will be worth Rs 891 crore. The company is providing broadband access and applications to consumers and it plans to take its high-speed fibre optic network right to the customer’s office or home with Web applications. Having taken the "A" category ISP licence, Hughes plans to provide services like videoconferencing, Web hosting, digital network services, and e-mail.