Fracas mars cellphone operators8217; AGM

NEW DELHI, AUG 20: Cellphone operators nearly came to blows today at the annual general body meeting AGM called to approve the annual r...

NEW DELHI, AUG 20: Cellphone operators nearly came to blows today at the annual general body meeting AGM called to approve the annual report of the operators8217; association and elect a new chairman for the Cellular Operators8217; Association of India COAI. The meeting, which lasted over five hours, failed to elect a chairman and brought the division between metro cellular operators and the operators in state circles to the fore. But before leaving the meeting, operators were asked to take an oath of secrecy not to divulge any details of the differences to the media, especially with the spotlight on the telecom scandal after the recently approved telecom package.

It all began when the letter of the current chairman of COAI, dated August 18, was read out at the AGM. In his letter, Rajiv Chandrashekhar of the BPL group had expressed his desire to relinquish his post along with T V Ramachandran, executive vice-president of the association who is on deputation from the Essar group to the COAI.

Soon one of themembers proposed the name of Vinay Rai, promoter of Koshika Telecom Usha group for the post of the chairman of COAI. This met with some opposition from the members who said that a professional8217; should be the chairman of the association. This virtually triggered off a slanging match between members with Vinay Rai reportedly saying that being a graduate from the Masachussets Institute of Technology MIT how could he be labelled 8220;unprofessional8221;. His supporters are also reported to have said that promoters who had put in so much of their money into equity of companies were being called unprofessional while professional8217; CEOs who had no stake in the business were being labelled 8220;unprofessional8221;.

Very soon there were two groups within the association and the meeting became a free for all, with accusations being exchanged thick and fast. Operators from cellular circles said that with mostly metros getting an opportunity to lead the association, their interests were only being looked after. Companies likeKoshika, JT Mobiles and Essar whose licences had been terminated in the recent past questioned as to 8220;what had been done for these circles when lobbying was being done in the Prime Minister8217;s Office for getting the new telecom package approved8221;.

While most operators, including Vinay Rai refused to comment on today8217;s events, one operator said on the condition of anonymity that they had a problem with Vinay Rai8217;s candidature as Koshika had its licences terminated and was seen as a non-performing8217; company and could not represent the industry.

Soon CEOs from companies who were present at the meeting were on their cellphones with their promoter bosses being instructed about their wishes. The whole slanging match went on for over two hours.

This was followed by some members 8212; mostly from the metros 8212; saying that for the sake of continuity, both members should continue. It was even stated that Rajiv Chandrashekhar was 8220;prepared to continue8221;. This again was met with opposition with some members statingthat any term should be for one year only and that the secretariat of the COAI should consist of independent professionals who are not from any particular company.

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The issue would now be resolved only on September 10 8212; the new date set for the AGM. So far, all chairmen of the COAI have been nominated by consensus, but this time September 3 has been set as the date for forwarding names of candidates who would want to contest if an election becomes inevitable. The AGM will then also decide the weightage of each voters by the number of circles that they have licences for. In the meanwhile, attempts are also on to find out a compromise candidate acceptable to both factions of the COAI.