KOLKATA: The communications ministry will hold talks with fixed-line telecoms
firms by next week to sort out the issue of revenue sharing between private and
state-owned service providers, a govt. official said on Sunday.
India threw open basic phone services to unlimited competition in January
this year under its liberalization program. Before that, only one private firm
had been allowed to compete with one state-owned firm in each telecoms circle.
Industry experts say the government's target to raise tele-density to seven
fixed lines per 100 inhabitants by 2005, from the current 3.7, would not be met
unless authorities worked out a proper revenue sharing arrangement between
private operators and state-run giants BSNL and MTNL.
"We will hold a meeting on the revenue-sharing arrangement between the
operators later this week or next week," Shyamal Ghosh, central govt.
telecommunications secretary, told reporters on the sidelines of a telecom
conference in Calcutta. MTNL provides basic phone services in New Delhi and
Mumbai, while BSNL covers the rest of the country.
"The government should focus immediate attention on the crucial issue
(of revenue-sharing)," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of private
telecom group Bharti Enterprises. Global research group Gartner forecast in
August that phone revenues in India would increase to $18.9 billion by 2005 from
$6.7 billion in 2000.
(C) Reuters Limited.