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Bill seen helping India achieve advanced tech networks

Sumeet Chatterjee in New Delhi

The introduction of a long-pending Convergence Bill to set up a regulatory watchdog body will help India leapfrog development stages and achieve robust technology networks at a faster pace, analysts said Tuesday.

The new body, to be called Communication Commission of India, will be an independent body overseeing the Internet, broadcasting and telecommunications industry.

"By promoting convergent services, the country with its under-developed communication infrastructures has the opportunity to put in place advanced and low cost technology networks," said Vineet Nigam, a senior analyst with the Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency.

"For the end user, the real significance of the post convergence era lies in the low costs, ease, reliability and effectiveness of the technology-enabled services he desires," he said.

The Indian Cabinet cleared introduction of a Convergence Bill on Monday. The Cabinet approval comes about 11 months after deliberations began over the draft bill.

"An endeavour will be made to introduce the bill in this (parliamentary) session" which ends on August 31, Law Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday after a Cabinet meeting.

Once introduced in Parliament, it is most likely to be referred to a standing committee, which brings together MPs from several parties. The commission is expected to be in place by 2002, official sources said.

Analysts said the legislation would help new network providers start operations quickly without procedural hassles and help increase the pace of e-commerce transactions in India.

The bill addresses the common flow of voice, data and images enabled by digital technologies. It is expected to do away with the need for multiple licences for basic telephony, cellular telephony and broadcasting.

"The passage of the bill would result in better sharing and utilisation of infrastructure, lower operating costs, improved technologies, wider service offering, and greater and easier access to services," said Sanjay Mehta, a telecom analyst with Arthur Andersen.

"Many services and information sources that were traditionally controlled on a domestic level are being provided on a global basis, giving convergence an international component - one which is rising in importance," he said.

The proposed functions of the Communication Commission would include regulation of carriage and content and issue of licenses. It would also set tariff and access conditions for 'fair, equitable and non-discriminatory access'.

"As different organisations diversify their activities across the convergent sectors, a regulator with the breadth, scope and expertise expected of this commission would make the law move to new heights of achievement," said a group headed by noted jurist Fali Nariman that drafted the bill.

"It is now accepted in most countries that governments must be seen to stand back from controls, and confine themselves to setting up a general institutional framework," the group pointed out.

If it becomes law, the Convergence Bill would repeal the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act 1997.

It is, however, not clear whether the government would reorganise the telecom ministry, information technology ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry into one single ministry, along the same lines as the proposed regulator.

Indo-Asian News Service

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