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Reliance Infocomm CMD Mukesh Ambani welcomed open market-based competition both from other private players and the government, but said that anomalies need to be corrected. 

An indignant Ambani has called for a debate in the communication industry to tackle the issue of access deficit charge (ACD). He likened it to Maruti charging all other car manufacturers for selling cars in India.

For instance, in the mobility market private operators have to pay BSNL in the form of access deficit charge, even if it has not used BSNL's network, to subsidize its rural telephony. Explaining his predicament, Ambani said, "Out of a 99-paise call, my subscriber has to pay 80-paise as subsidy. What kind of a model is this?" "There has to be some public understanding on this," he averred. 

Welcoming the FDI in the telecom segment, he said, "There should be no restrictions on capital whatsoever, after all the capital will get invested and it will create jobs!" Ambivalent on whether Reliance would go in for FDI or not, Ambani said, " For us, capital has always been global". The possible merger of BSNL and MTNL to create a communication behemoth also does not worry him. He quipped, " Our goal is not only the Indian market, we are looking at being global players in all  markets". 

Mukesh Ambani was recently awarded "The V&D Telecom Man of the Year 2004" by Voice & Data, a Cyber Media publication. In an exclusive interview with senior editors, Ambani - the man who impeccably executed many a petrochemical projects in the country, shared his views and learning from the communications business. 

Reliance Infocomm, as a project was started with an estimated outlay of Rs 25,000 crore. Indicating the possibility that actual investments could far surpass this figure, Ambani said," We now look upon this telecom business as being separate from setting up a chemical or manufacturing project for Reliance Infocomm's vision to fully play out, we may even invest Rs. 40,000 crore upwards". He said that the company is in a continuous optimization mode and has been effectively reinvesting the returns till now. 

Twenty months into the launch of Reliance Infocomm, Mukesh D Ambani rates himself ten on ten in terms of personal satisfaction of having begun well the rollout of a giant enterprise that he terms would give India a 'competitive edge in the world'. Despite some initial hiccups, the company is now a significant force in the information and communications industry. 

Iishwar Daas Nair with Shyam Malhotra
CyberMedia News