Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said he will call the nation’s telcom operators (telcos) for a meeting at the earliest, to discuss the stress in the sector and look into the rationalisation of spectrum usage charges (SUC).

He also said Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan has been appointed to chair a committee to look into removing ambiguities for ease of doing business, and has been asked to prepare a report in two weeks.

Telecom committee

“I told her (Sundararajan) to meet the Solicitor General for technical clarities,” Prasad told media persons here, adding that the committee will look into TRAI recommendations and other previous suggestions to prepare the report.

Prasad said the spectrum auction will take place this year as announced earlier, and that his ministry tis performing the due diligence, be it on pricing, back-haul system or any other requirement.

On the status of a revival plan for BSNL and MTNL, he said the ministry will prepare a Cabinet note shortly. The PSUs are the nation’s assets, he said, adding that their employees should work professionally and compete with private players. He also hinted that more spectrum should be provided to the PSU players.

While not commenting on Huawei, Prasad said the government expects Indian software companies and start-ups to help building the ecosystem for 5G services and also the patents and innovations around it.

“Some of the initial responses have been good and I want to personally follow them up,” he added.

Related Topics