BANGALORE: Union Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday declared
that the government would not allow Internet telephony by the private Internet
service providers, as it would lead to depletion of revenues to the exchequer.
"Though a lot of privatization is on the cards, including the opening up of
the national long distance (NLD) telephony for the private sector, there are no
plans to allow ISPs to provide voice over the Internet," Paswan said.
Speaking on the outcome of the consultative meeting of MPs attached to the
communications ministry at Mysore on Monday, the minister stated that
corporatization of the Department of Telecom Services (DTS) would begin on
schedule from October 1, 2000. The committee set up to look into the issues
arising out of the corporatization would be taken up on July 21 at a meeting
with various union leaders. "The interest of the employees will be
protected and all efforts will be made to convince them on the corporatization
of the DTS as it is the sole decision of the government in conformity with the
Nations Telecom Policy of 1999, and the commitment made under the WTO,"
Paswan claimed.
"All block headquarters and district headquarters will have telephone
facility, and all district headquarters will have Internet facility by August
15, 2000. The government's game plan is to provide telecom access to all the
villages across the country by 2002. All villages in the southern states would
be provided with public telephones by March 2001 in order to ensure that the
benefits of telecom and IT revolution reach the masses. In addition, all 2.5
lakh village phones working on multi-access radio relay (MARR) will be replaced
with new technology options in the next two years," Paswan said.
About 1.10 lakh village phones will be connected with wireless in local loop
(WLL), satellite phones and TDM/PMP technologies. In order to take the Internet
to the masses and the countryside, Paswan said Sanchar Dhabas or community
communication cafes will be launched in a big way through franchisees.
Deploring on the poor record of the private players in providing basic phones
in the rural side though they were given licenses couple of years ago, Paswan
said the government would step in to bridge the gap, and the private companies
would be penalized for failing to fulfil their contractual obligations.