Paswan for amendment of TRAI Act

NEW DELHI: Minister of communications Ram Vilas Paswan, during his visit to London, expressed the need for amending the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act. This was pointed out by DoT officials. This makes him the first communications minister to say so in an open forum. Here he emphasized the role and responsibility of TRAI in providing a level playing field for the new entrants into the cellular and basic services. The Minister made these remarks during his participation in a round table interactive meeting at London. The participants comprised senior executives of major financial institutions, banks and telecom companies in the UK, all of whom came together under the auspices of the British Invisibles, an umbrella organization of the financial institutions of the city of London.

While talking about the participation of the private sector in the building of national infrastructure, the minister said that the private sector in India has to play an important role in providing an impetus to the information technology and telecom industry in the country. He pointed out to the software industry where the active participation of the private sector saw software exports boom and which is expected to cross $50 billion in 2008, up from the current $3 billion.