CVC favors common regulator for Net, telecom, broadcasting

BANGALORE: Chief Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal has said that government should consider a comprehensive regulatory authority for various disciplines of communications including telecom, broadcasting and Internet. He also said, if a technology brings down the cost of communication and benefits the public, the government should seriously consider the option.

Mr. Vittal at the inaugural session of Convergence India'99 said, ''The country is talking about convergence of technologies. What we need is a convergence of various regulatory bodies into a single body for telecom, Internet and information and broadcasting in India." With regard to the ban on voice over Internet Protocol (IP), Mr. Vittal said the regulatory bodies have to think strategically and facilitate absorption of new technologies into India.

Secretary telecom services P. S. Saran said for expanding cellular services there was a need to reduce the tariffs and he also said that, vast tariff differential between basic and cellular telephony would narrow down over the next few years. Mr. Saran said India was targeting to increase the tele density from present 2.4 phones per 100 persons to 7 phones per 100 persons in the next five years.

Chief Executive of Prasar Bharati Corporation R. R. Shah said that the corporation would start digital broadcasting in four metros by the next year and change over to this latest technology to cover the entire nation by 2012. The change from present analogue system of broadcasting which limits viewing to 40 channels to digital would help viewers capture as many as 200 channels on their sets.