Struggling telecom industry likely to get a reform boost soon

The telecom industry has been weighed down by negative developments in the past few months but soon there could be some good news.

In an exclusive conversation at the CNBC-TV18-Mint Infra Ministerial Summit, Telecom Secretary JS Deepak promised to make it easier to lay fibre optic cables in the next two months. He also said a new unified license for virtual network operators is on the anvil.

A confident newly appointed Telecom Secretary, Deepak has promised important reforms. Brushing aside telcos' claims of fragmentation of spectrum, the telecom secretary said he was optimistic on the next set of spectrum auctions and is also optimistic on meeting the revenue target of a whopping Rs 99,000 crore estimated in the Budget this year.

"Telecom industry has long been complaining of fragmentation of spectrum. We will be putting large volumes of spectrum in various hands. We will solve the problem of spectrum shortage once and for all," he said.

After a spate of policy initiatives, like spectrum trading and sharing, the government is working on a number of policy measures for better spectrum utilisation.

"The industry has been demanding a new license of a virtual network operator. That is something on the anvil. It should go to the Telecom Commission next week and if it is agreed upon, it should be a reform, which will happen in weeks rather than months," he said.

Not only this, the Telecom Secretary has also promised to make it easier to lay optic fibre cables underground by enabling telcos to get land from states and local bodies.

The Department of Telecommunications is working with the state governments for the right-of-way permissions for laying optic cables underground and setting up telecom towers.

The other ambitious project of the government -- the BharatNet project -- is also expected to be completed by March 2017 in the first phase. The Telecom Secretary said private players will only participate when there is a business case and that is still a long time off.

"Private companies will come forward if they have a business case; role of private companies will be to execute in the first phase of implementing BharatNet," he said.

With several policy reforms on the newly-appointed Telecom Secretary's agenda, the industry is hopeful of a better year ahead.