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The government will do “whatever is needed” to keep the telecom sector healthy, including bringing in another round of wide-ranging reforms soon, communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw<\/a> said. Speaking to ET’s Anandita Singh Mankotia and Romit Guha, Vaishnaw, who is also the minister for railways and electronics & IT, said the recently announced relief package for the telecom sector does not need any legislation to back it up since it conforms with the Supreme Court<\/a>’s orders in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case. Edited excerpts:
The government just announced sweeping reforms in telecom. Is there scope for more?<\/strong>
Through the first set of reforms, we have tried to solve the root cause of problems restraining the telecom sector and give time and space for the sector to recover. When we come out with the next set of reforms, they will further unleash growth in the sector. We intend to make the telecom sector so strong that it should be able to reach out to every remote destination in the N-E (north-eastern) region, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, J&K, etc. Today, with the current structure of the industry, it cannot happen.
Reforms will primarily aim to strengthen the industry to enable it to fight it out in India and abroad. Why can’t we have Indian operators in the US, Europe, and other international destinations? Why should we just have international operators coming to India and not the other way around?
Is there a need for legislation to back the four-year AGR payment deferral offer which was cleared by the Cabinet?<\/strong>
There was some news item about legislation. It is not needed because we think we are well within the Supreme Court’s judgement. The two boundaries set by the SC are sacrosanct. Firstly, the entire payment has to be made within 10 years. Secondly, reassessment shouldn’t happen. So, those two boundary conditions remain unchanged. Courts are reasonable.
Have promoters of Vodafone Idea<\/a> committed infusion of fresh funds?<\/strong>
They have discussed infusion of equity into the company. However, the exact details would be announced by them as and when they finalise.
Should telecom tariffs be regulated? Some telcos were asking for a floor price until some time back…
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The telecom sector has the elements of revenue maximisation as well as public good. Covid has highlighted the significance of telecom services as a public good. Since there is an element of public good, we must formulate policy<\/a> according to that. However, coming to the aspect of tariffs, this is between customers and service providers. It is not something in which the government should intervene. I think some sort of equilibrium has to come. Market won’t tolerate any distortion for long. In the case of the government's revenue maximisation objective, we should take the aspect of public good into account.