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`Cabinet decision on opening up STD service soon'

Partha Ghosh

AURANGABAD, July 1

THE Telecom Commission will take up the proposal for opening up the national long distance (NLD) sector at its meeting on July 13, Mr. Shyamal Ghosh, the Commission Chairman and Secretary, DoT, said on Saturday.

He also said that a Cabinet decision paving the way for private participation in STD services was expected within a month.

Delivering the keynote address at Fibrecomm -- 2000, a seminar on `Future of telecom fibre optics: Road to convergence' organised by FICCI, the Chairman said that in the first phase of establishment of the proposed National Internet Backbone, to be c ompleted in October, nodes will be set up on 320 secondary switching areas (SSAs).

In the second phase, a majority of synchronous transfer modes (STMs) will also be connected to the network.

A boom in the demand for fibre optic cables is also expected, once the Sankhya Vahini project gets off and the NLD sector is opened to private players.

Mr. Ghosh said that a new scheme for opening up of the NLD sector has been formulated and will be considered by the Commission on July 13, before it is sent for Cabinet approval.

He expects that it would ensure bids from only serious players. An upfront payment of revenue share agreed upon and a limited number of players -- Mr. Ghosh refused to reveal the numbers -- apart from the Department of Telecom Services (DTS) has been proposed.

Though the Chairman refused to comment, it is perceived that the Telecom Commission has objections to the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on several issues, including the number of players which may be allowed.

On the issue of the several difficulties that private operators face in procuring right of way (RoW) -- which they have brought to his Ministry's notice -- Mr. Ghosh said that the first meeting of a sub-committee set up recently was convened to co nsider a single-window clearance for RoW.

The sub-committee, which is headed by him, was trying to adopt the concept formulated by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where a single-window clearance is being given.

On the issue of increasing demand for bandwidth, Mr. Ghosh said that there was a need to ensure that any firm demand is made available.

It is mandatory that all leased circuits should be made available within 30-45 days. The Government has directed the DTS to monitor requests for bandwidth and a standing committee has been set up to look into the issue.

Mr. Ghosh said that the manufacturing sector will have to gear itself to meet the challenge of exponential growth.

``India will be the biggest market for fibres and we hope that projects such as National Internet Backbone and Sankhya Vahini projects (Phase I & II) will go a long way in accelerating the pace of transmission.''