Planning for 5 lakh rural wi-fit hotspots in next phase of BhartNet: Telecom Secy

Wishing all women a Happy Women's day, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said government and IAS has more women compared to other professions. Women must be given a lot more opportunity to work across sectors, she added.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18 she touched about various issues like high stress and taxes for the sector, next phase of BharatNet, spectrum pricing and some other women centric issues.

Under BhartNet she said they have already covered 1 lakh gram panchayats and aim to cover 1.5 lakh panchayats in the next phase. States too have come forward to take up implementation, so it would move at a faster pace, she added in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

In the next-phase they also plan to create 5 lakh wi-fi hotspots for the rural citizens, so that the broadband usage in these parts goes up.

Talking about stress in the sector, Sundararajan said the government had set-up inter-ministerial group (IMG) to look in to the high stress faced by the sector, adding that they were in the final phase of resolution on that.

With regards higher taxes, she said the industry has pointed out towards that issue and the ministry will attempt to address the various issues raised by corporates and the recommendations sent by TRAI in the New Telecom Policy.

On the spectrum pricing, she said it is purely dependent on the demand and supply metric and that the pricing was a transparent process via auction.