SINHA-JIO 2 LAST

Asked if this fierce competition triggered by Reliance Asked if this fierce competition triggered by RelianceJio’s entry as healthy or disruptive, the telecom ministerrecounted the journey the sector had made from a point whencall charges were as high as Rs 15-17. "There was a time when call rates were Rs 15-17… Thejourney began from there and then moved to Rs 1, and now to apoint where it seems it does not require any money (freecalls)," he said. On September 1, Reliance Industries announced thatcustomers of Reliance Jio – its telecom venture – will getfree voice calling and roaming services, bundled with dataaccess for Rs 19 onwards, making the offering one of the"lowest" globally. These tariff plans come into effect from January 1. Tillthen, all customers will get free access to unlimited voicecalls (local and STD), SMSes and data. On the ongoing tussle between incumbent operators and thenew entrant over the points of inter-connect, he said, "Be ittariffs or points of inter-connect, it comes under the domainof Trai (and not the telecom ministry)." "It is alright when someone is testing network whetheryou should give inter-connect points or not… but once thecommercial service is launched, then everyone shares networkwith each other. I think there are enough rules in place andTrai will look into it," the minister said. Asked about allegations of bias against Trai, he said,"Show me any decision that Trai has taken (with bias). Withoutany conclusion in place, it is not appropriate to form anopinion about someone." The minister also spoke of trust being restored amonginvestors with the Modi government coming to power. "Before the Modi government, there was a trust deficitamong investors, be it domestic or foreign investors. Now,that trust has resumed. Now, people know there will be alevel-playing field. There will be no injustice and biasagainst anyone," he said. He listed completion of Bharat Net project and bridgingthe digital divide as the government’s top priority. "It (Bharat Net) reaches in rural areas as soon aspossible as per government’s top priority," Sinha said. Bharat Net, formerly known as the National Optical FibreNetwork, has missed several deadlines in the past. Thegovernment now expects to complete the laying of optical fibreacross all 2.5 lakh panchayats by 2018. "I don’t know what happened earlier, but now the target ofthe government to complete phase one of laying optical fibrenetwork in village panchayats will be completed by March 2017and I am saying this with rigidity and on my responsibility,"Sinha said. PTI PRS MBIARD