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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, JUNE 26: In a significant move, the government on Friday announced its in-principle clearance for corporatisation of the Department of Telecommunications DoT. DoT employees will, however, be given the option to remain in government if they so wished.
Disclosing this to newspersons here, Union minister for communications Sushma Swaraj said that under the corporatisation plan, DoT will get a new name 8211; India Telecom 8211; which will be a 100 per cent government-owned PSU in the initial phase.
Before the announcement, Swaraj held a meeting with Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha during which she got the nod for a final go-ahead for the corporatisation plan.
She said that the department would prepare a draft Cabinet note within a fortnight. On his part, the finance minister would consult the expenditure department of his ministry to complete other details.
The corporatisation plans of DoT would involve an extra burden of Rs 12,000 crore on the government8217;s part on account of pensionary fundsand gratuity.
The communications ministry has placed three options before the finance ministry to prepare the balancesheet for the new corporate identity.
Though there will be no cash transaction involved between the communication ministry and the finance ministry, but one has to wait for the latter8217;s decision to see whether the corporation gets an interest holiday, equity or loan amount, Swaraj stated.
Swaraj further said that with the corporatisation of DoT, the deemed deputation status of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd MTNL would be abolished. In the first phase the Group C and D employees would be transferred to DoT.
The secretary DoT would meet the expenditure secretary on Saturday to finalise the financial implication of the corporatisation proposal, Swaraj added.
She also announced that the ministry had decided to allow authorised internet service providers ISP to set up international gateways for data transmission. Currently, the department of telecommunication DoT has six gatewaysfor the purpose.
Swaraj said that the ISPs would be allowed to set up separate gateways on receiving no-objection-certificate from the union defence ministry. quot;The decision of the ministry will be part of the comprehensive report on the national information backbone,quot; she added.
However, a maximum foreign equity participation of 49 per cent would be allowed for the private parties interested in setting up the gateways.
Swaraj also announced that tariffs for lease lines will be brought at par with the rental charges. Further, the ministry has decided to withdraw the surcharge on 64 kbps and higher circuit for voice from August 15 this year.
Swaraj further said that the government has also decided to provide every district headquarter with an internet access node by January 26, 2000. These are to be provided both by DoT and authorised ISPs and the tariff for connecting with the nearest node would be that of a local telephone call, she added. The ministry has also decided to allow the private over threelakh STD/PCO owners for installing teleinformation kiosks.
