War on Acquiring 5G Technology

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

War on Acquiring 5G Technology

Spectrum auction worth Rs 5.60 lakh crores goes for a Toss 

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Oct 7

India is on horns of a dilemma in acquiring commercial fifth-generation (5G) technology network as global war seem to have broken out. The war has led to the huge delay in deploying 5G technology and auctioning of 5G spectrum capable of fetching Rs 5.60 lakh crores. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has left the decision to acquire technology and date of auctioning at the discretion of the political leadership.

While the USA is pitching for its “most trusted and secure technology”,the Chinese have mounted huge pressure not to dump Huawei. The Chinese gear maker which penetrated deep inside India through its 2G, 3G & 4G networks for decades, has now threatened that it won't invest more if it was denied 5G permission. In order to add fuel to the fire, Sunil Bharati Mittal of Airtel has openly advocated bringing Huawei in 5G. Jay Chen, CEO of Huawei in India, put further pressure saying, his company invested over $3.5 billion in India till date and will be forced not to invest.The Finnish equipment maker Nokia is very much in the race too.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is yet to come out with a road map for field trials even as the 100-day deadline — announced in June this year for the start of 5G trials — has passed. On June 3, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said his priority would be to initiate 5G trials within 100 days. But the high-level committee on 5G headed by Principal scientific adviser K Vijay Raghavan said on June 13 came out with a shocker. It said, India should “go for (5G) trials immediately with all, except for Chinese vendors”. Since then, the issue is in cold storage.

The issue cropped up between India and the US when PM modi met US officials and President Trump. Later, a high-level delegation visited New Delhi led by Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary of state for Cyber and International communication and Information Policy. He met top Indian officials and wanted it to work with “Trusted sources”. Now the Chinese President is visiting India from Friday and the issue is bound to crop up during the one-to-one talks with PM Modi.

Ends

Telecom war take its first toll

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

     Telecom war take its first toll

*    Midnight coup at Sanchar Bhavan 

*    J S Deepak shunted out

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 2

A bitter corporate battle in the telecom sector between Reliance Jio and  rival telecom operators seems to have taken its first toll. In a late evening order, the Prime Minister shunted out Chairman Telecom Commission & Secretary Telecom J S Deepak and sent him to the Commerce Ministry as OSD. Three months later, Deepak will go to Geneva to take over as India’s Ambassador at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Normally, the posting at Geneva is for three year period as it requires tough negotiations and hard bargaining at the world forum. The posting at Geneva had always been there for three years. A careful reading of the transfer order reveals that Deepak will remain in Geneva for a period of 14 months only. It seems the government was in such a tearing hurry to show him the door that it did not wait for his return from a telecom conference abroad. Deepak was attending the World Mobile Conference at Barcelona when the marching orders out of Sanchar Bhawan were issued.

Surprisingly, the government did not name Deepak’s successor at the Telecom Commission which is now headless. The Telecom Ministry doesn’t have a secretary either.

It seems the PMO was angry with Deepak when the Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body for the sector, wrote to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) urgently review its tariff orders and directions. The Telecom Commission met on February 23 and issued the letter and also made it public.

The letter assumes significance in the backdrop of bitter battle between Reliance Jio and other operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

Since the launch of its free voice and data services in September 2016, Reliance Jio forced incumbents Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular to bring down tariffs leading to a price war in the industry.

The tariff war, according to DoT, has adversely impacted government’s collections from Rs 3975 crore in the first quarter of FY17 to Rs 3584 crore in Q2, and further down to Rs 3186 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2016.

The main reason for the downward trend appears to be a tariff war in the industry triggered by free promotional offers, the DoT secretary said. However, the letter did not name any of the companies.

What made government angry was that when the matter was before the superior judiciary as Vodafone and other players had moved Delhi High Court alleging that TRAI had failed to prohibit violation of its tariff orders, why the DOT jumped the gun.