After a spat of letters by the CEOs of major telecom firms, now communications minister A Raja has written to the Prime Minister as well. Defending his stand on the new policy, Raja said all his decisions regarding the sector were aimed at lowering tariffs and encouraging growth.“I assure you that all the decisions taken by me will be guided by the larger interest of the public, competition and growth of telecom sector,” Raja said in his letter. Contrary to commerce minister Kamal Nath’s suggestion to form a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the matter and iron out the differences, Raja feels it is not necessary. “Since the department has decided to continue with the existing policy (first-cum-first-served) for processing of applications, the suggestion of Kamal Nath for setting up a GoM is out of context,” the communications minister said. On opening up the sector for foreign players, Raja said, “The increased competition will bring down tariff, which will result in wider spread of telecom services in rural and remote areas. Also, it will bring in new customers which still cannot afford these services.” About 46 applicants have been waiting to receive letters of intent to enter (LoI) the mobile telephony business, but the Government has not been able to start the process due to ongoing litigations with regard to spectrum issues. Some of the new applicants, in fact, have threatened to explore legal options for the delays in issuing LoIs.
