Rural service provider imperative for rural telephony

Chennai: The introduction of unified licence regime for the domestic telecom service providers seems to have freed the basic service providers (landline connectivity) from going rural. Under earlier licence regime all the private players had to connect a specified number of rural areas. After the new licencing regime it seems these rural obligation s have been shifted to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with financial help from the Universal Service Obligation Fund.

"If telecom penetration has to happen in rural areas, then the only solution for that is the introduction of a new service provider category called the rural service provider (RSP)," declared Dr.Ashok Jhunjhunwala, the head of department of electrical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He was speaking at the seminar Connecting Rural India to drive education, health and wealth generation organised by Media Lab Asia, Chennai hub.

Dr. Jhunjhunwala is the man behind the cost effective indigenous telecom technology, corDECT wireless in the local loop (WLL), which brought into being a clutch of companies collectively called the Telecommunications and Computer Networks (TeNet) group. He is also in the board of several telecom companies.

According to him, the RSP will be permitted to operate only in the rural areas and this in turn would result in faster penetration of telecom connectivity there.

Before the advent of the unified licence regime, the private basic telephony providers like Tata Teleservices, Reliance Infocomm started going rural. The Tata Teleservices had taken the initiative to connect 1,000 villages in Andhra Pradesh using VSAT. The company also partnered with the Chennai based n-Logue Communications P Ltd to connect villages in Maharashtra, Gujarat and in Tamil Nadu.

According to Dr Jhunjhunwala when BSNL had the monopoly in the domestic telecom sector, there was no service quality and what ever was offered came at a high cost. Indian people got better service quality at a cheaper price only after the introduction of competition. Similarly if rural areas are to be BSNL's turf then it is a monopoly and the casualty will be service quality and low-cost service to the rural people.

He praised BSNL for bringing fibre to almost every taluk headquarters. With wireless connectivity, almost 85 per cent of the country's six lakh villages could be provided the vital telephone connection.

"But mere telephone and internet connection will not suffice to improve the livelihood of the rural populace. It is just a means to provide better healthcare, education facilities as well as to improve rural earnings," he added.

Agreeing with him Shyamal Ghosh, administrator, Universal Service Fund, said, "The fund is created by levying 5 per cent on the telecom service providers (basic and cellular companies). The RSP will provide voice and data services and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is considering the concept."

Speaking about the role of ICICI Bank in ppoviding rural connectivity Nachiket Mor, executive director, ICICI Bank, said, "Today, listed banks are judged every quarter. As such banks are forced to look at projects with viable business model for financing. The same principle is applied even while appraising telecom projects for rural areas."

The one common view that emerged at the workshop is that a telephone connection is crucial for any telecom based business in rural areas, say Internet kiosks. "With a telephone connection the kiosk business breaks even faster," remarked Dr.Rekha Jain, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.