His 3year term over, govt extends TRAI chief’s tenure by two years

NEW DELHI: RS Sharma would head the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for two more years. The Union cabinet’s appointments committee approved the extension of his term on Thursday.

“The appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the re-appointment of Shri Ram Sewak Sharma, IAS (Retd) as Chairperson, TRAI for a further period up to 30 September, 2020, ie the date on which he attains the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” said a circular.

Sharma has been TRAI chairman since July 2015.

The telecom sector saw major turmoil under his chairmanship when Reliance’s Jio entered the market, followed by the sector’s consolidation to just three players – Jio, Airtel, and the company formed from the merger of Vodafone and Idea.

He cut the interoperability fee, which an operator must pay to another when a call or a text message is sent to a different network. Jio appreciated this consumer-focused move, while older firms opposed it as it would negatively impact their revenue.

Sharma is the ex-founding chief executive of the Aadhaarissuing authority, Unique Identification Authority of India. He is a vocal defender of the 12-digit unique number and its safety.

Last month, he tweeted his Aadhaar number, challenging people to show how “mere knowledge” of his Aadhaar number could cause him any “real harm”.

Although Twitter users revealed his email ID and password, bank account details, phone number, home address, UIDAI had said all the information was in fact available online.