New Delhi, May 29 The Communications and IT Minister, Mr Andimuthu Raja, expects telephone tariffs to come down to as low as 10 paise a minute for local calls and to 25 paise a minute for domestic long distance calls as a result of the decisions taken by him in the previous tenure.
Mr Raja, who has been appointed as the telecom minister for the second consecutive time, said that auction for third generation spectrum is on top of the agenda and should be completed in two months.
The Minister said that the decisions taken by him during the previous tenure to bring in more mobile operators should lead to lower tariffs. “Local calls at 10 paise a minute and inter-State calls at 20 paise a minute is my motto. I would work towards enabling world class telecom services to the masses at competitive and affordable rates,” Mr Raja said.
On the issue of auctioning 3G and broadband spectrum, Mr Raja said that he will soon take the policy to the Cabinet. He added that he expected higher revenue generation from 3G auction as a result of a revival in the markets.
For the IT sector, the Minister said that he will speak to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to extend tax incentives under Software Technology Park of India until 2012. Introduction of IT at the lowest level of governance will also be on the Minister’s agenda. “I want to make the functioning of the government offices paperless through the introduction of technology,” Mr Raja said. He said that his Ministry will promote manufacturing of electronic hardware in the country and encourage investments under the new semiconductor policy.
On the revival of postal services, the Minister said he will take measures to bring India Post at par with the global standards. Mr Raja will be assisted by two Ministers of State, Mr Sachin Pilot and Mr Gurdas Kamat.
Industry reacts positivelyThe industry reacted positively to Mr Raja’s appointment. Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, Cellular Operator’s Association of India, said, “There will be continuity in the positive measures which were being planned by the Communications Ministry. We are sure that Mr Raja will take effective measures to take Indian telecom sector to the next level of growth.”
Mr S.C. Khanna, Association of Unified Telecom Services Providers of India said, “We have always been supportive of Mr Raja’s policies. We hope that he will continue to enable new players to emerge in the market. He should allocate up to 6.2 Mhz of spectrum to the new players instead of 4.4 Mhz as is being suggested.”
The Internet Service Providers said that the Minister should re-look at opening up net telephony because it is in line with the stated objective of bringing affordable communication to the masses.
“It is good that Mr Raja has got another innings as the telecom minister. He understands the sector well and knows what needs to be done from day one. Any new person would have had taken time to study the various reform measures required for this sector,” said Mr Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India.
Mr Raja is expected to take charge of the Ministry next week as he along with other Cabinet Ministers from the DMK party have gone to Chennai.
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