Scindia meets with telecom sector bosses, upholds consumer interests in sectoral growth

Strategies to enhance service delivery and address challenges faced by telecom operators were among key discussion points at the stakeholders advisory committee meeting comprising top executives and promoters of carriers that was chaired by telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday.

The first meeting of the telecom stakeholders' advisory committee (SAC) was attended by Reliance Jio chairman Akash Ambani, Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, chief executive Gopal Vittal, and Vodafone Idea managing director Akshaya Moondra, apart from representatives of the Cellular Operators Association of India. This was also the first meeting with the ministry officials after the tariff hike last month. 

The top carriers' meeting with the minister was one of the six stakeholder committee meetings in two days, which were focused on facilitating a two-way dialogue with the government on critical matters such as technology promotion, R&D, go-to-market strategies for telecom products, promoting local manufacturing, enabling the manufacturing ecosystem, establishing industry-academia linkages, sharing new ideas, and resolving policy issues.

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On Tuesday, he met with members of internet service providers, infrastructure providers, academicians and research and development in the telecom sector. On Monday, he met with members of satellite communication ecosystem, telecom sector original equipment manufacturers and telecom electronics ecosystem.

“We've identified a rather deep agenda for all three committees. Now, the members of these committees and us will be working together. There are varied schedules for the first presentation of these committees over the next couple of weeks. And then we will be taking each individual issue at a time, delving into the details, and devising an action plan with clear timelines and actionable items so that we can take our sector forward,” the minister said.

While telecom companies discussed issues aimed at different aspects concerning the sector including futuristic and innovative areas of growth, internet service providers focused on improving broadband penetration and infrastructure development. The committee highlighted the need for policy support to accelerate infrastructure rollout and enhance internet accessibility, particularly emphasizing the deployment of advanced technologies like fibre optics and 5G, according to a statement by the communications ministry after the meeting.

Stakeholders in academia and R&D highlighted the importance of industry-academia partnerships in driving innovation and developing a skilled workforce for the telecom sector.

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Scindia stated that insights from the SACs will not only help in technological advancements and policy reforms, but also the all-round growth of India's telecommunications sector.

“By forging these committees we hope to take the sector forward realising the Prime Minister's goal of creating not only an Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat but a telecom superpower within India that we will hopefully transcend our boundaries in days to come," Scindia added.

The minister and officials of the telecom department including secretary Neeraj Mittal will meet with the stakeholders in August to hold further discussions.

Separately, the telecom department issued demand notices to Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea to make payments by 26 July for spectrum they bid for in the spectrum auctions that concluded last month. Airtel has been asked to pay ₹6,585.7 crore, Vodafone Idea ₹3,510 crore and Jio ₹973.6 crore in full or in 20 equal installments, as per the notices.

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