MUMBAI, APR 19: The Telecom Commission (TC) has begun work on the corporatisation of the Department of Telecom (DoT) as per the guidelines laid down in the new telecom policy. Steps to separate the services arm of DoT into a Department of Telecom Services have been initiated and discussions have been held with federations and unions with a view to complete the process by 2001, Telecom Commission chairman Anil Kumar said on Monday.Speaking to media persons after the inauguration of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited's (VSNL) global roaming facility, Anil Kumar ruled out any perception of downsizing or retrenchment among employees. "We will cross the bridge when the new telecom services department is set up," he said about income tax concerns which have been expressed about DoT's corporatisation.He said the VSNL's retail offering was targeted for the current year and the public sector undertaking had been requested to prepare an early action plan for it. Acting chairman and managing director of VSNL, AmitabhKumar, the details of the offering were being worked out by the board.Regarding extending VSNL internet licence to more than six cities, Amitabh Kumar said, "Our strength is not in going to small places". He was of the opinion the current arrangement of DoT offering the facility in other parts of country while VSNL provided the systems and know-how was an optimum one. However, at an earlier meeting with communications minister Jagmohan, VSNL officials had expressed the view DoT was probably not keen on handing over the operations to VSNL for fear of revenue loss. They had expressed willingness to operate internet services at the DoT nodes as well.On the showcause notice issued to telecom companies which have yet to pay 20 per cent of their licence fee dues to the government, Anil Kumar said, "In the case of those parties which have gone to court, we are proceeding as per the directive of the court. Regarding the others, we hope their position will improve and they will be able to pay the remainingamount (80 per cent) also". He did not say when the accountant general's opinion on the transfer of existing operators from the licence fee to the revenue sharing agreement was expected. "The AG will give his full attention to it," he said.Jason Ma, managing director (Asia Pacific) of iPass, with whom VSNL has partnered for global internet roaming, said the agreement between the two companies would save subscribers 60 per cent on the lower side in long distance calls. With this facility VSNL subscribers can access the net at local call charges at 3,000 access points in 150 countries for a one-time registration fee of Rs 1,000.iPass is a global market leader in internet roaming services and has tie-ups with 600 internet service providers worldwide. VSNL is the first ISP iPass has tied-up with in India. The agreement also makes VSNL access points in India available as part of the iPass global dial-up network for mobile internet users.VSNL has also tied-up with the Centre for Development of AdvancedComputing (C-DAC) for exchanging e-mail, presenting web pages and multilingual documents in 13 Indian languages. The word processing software, iLeap, can be downloaded for free at the VSNL portal, vsnl.com/iLeap for a trial period of three months.Amitabh Kumar also announced the availability of VSNL internet on the spot through a CD start-up kit and changes to enable faster downloads from popular sites like netscape.com. This would also result in cost savings through reduced usage of international bandwidth.
