‘I will first ask the industry what their priorities are’
NEW DELHI: For the next seven months until the end of his 40-year career with the government, R S Sharma, chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has a busy schedule. Sharma has set a target of finishing all pending consultations before July, and the coming few weeks will see the regulator issue new rules on tariff assessment, announce the new international mobile termination charge and come out with a new consultation paper seeking inputs on regulation of over-the-top (OTT) services. Edited excerpts from an interview:
What is the regulator’s agenda for the coming year?
There are some pending papers in the advanced pipeline, those we will finish off. Whatever papers are out (in consultation stage), those I plan to complete before July. We are going to have meetings with industry bodies. We will meet broadcasting players on January 12 and telecom players on January 23 to decide the agenda for the year.
What all is left from last year’s agenda?
We have sorted out most things. I don’t think there are any major immediate issues left but there may be some...it is a developing field...technology is progressing very fast. Internet of things (IoT), machine-to-machine, cloud, all that we have done. 5G we have not done but (for the) rest, we have brought out policies. We have given recommendation on net neutrality also. So, most of the stuff is done and the rest, for example the principles of tariff assessment, all those things are going to come in the next one or two weeks. Rest we will ask the industry ‘what do you think are the issues to be considered’.
What are the issues?
I will not like to give my list. Let me first ask the industry what their priorities are. My broad overarching thing had been that India should not be behind the technology curve. I will always think of policies and direction in which we nudge the players to improve technology.
How do you see the sector?
This is one sector whose area of applications are increasing by leaps and bounds. It has now become central to every sector. Previously, your telecom was only for talking.
Then telecom also became a means of accessing internet. Now it has become a means of delivering services in agriculture, health, transport, smart cities, sewage disposal, etc. So it is now becoming all-pervasive. So, information and communication technologies have become central to the growth story of any country. And that will require these networks and pipes and data and everything. The more data you produce, it will be consumed. Today, our data consumption per capita is the highest in the world. Today, wireless data consumption per month is 1.5 exabytes, which is more than what the US consumes. This industry in is not going to suffer demand slump.