Telecom minister Manoj Sinha said on Wednesday that the current scenario in the sector, where its revenues and profits are declining, has not happened for the first time and, like in the past, the industry will come out of this situation. “The sector has seen such ups and downs in the past too. It happened in the 2000s. They have come out of it in the past also,” he told reporters on the sidelines on the signing of a MoU for providing broadband connectivity under Bharat Net to post offices in the rural areas. The agreement was signed between department of posts, state-run telcos BSNL and Bharat Broadband Network. When prodded further on the situation that has led to even the government revenues declining, he said, “See, there are issues of government revenue and also that of consumer interest. We cannot stand on one side. India has a huge consumer base and with the growth in data, I'm sure going ahead financial health will be good. Telecom operators will recover”. The minister said consumer interest is also very important and already the country has one of the lowest rates across the globe, which is good for the subscribers. On spectrum auction, Sinha said they have asked Trai on the reserve price, which is a “preliminary thing”.
