Former Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Pradip Baijal said that “The differential rates of growth in the Telecom sector between Urban and Rural India needs to be addressed urgently because this Digital Divide could trigger social unrest” in future. The ratio of Tele density between Urban and Rural India is more than three times and there is an urgent need to increase the Broadband Spectrum in India.
Baijal through his power point presentations took the spell bound audience through the growth story of telecom sector in India right from 1850 when the first telephone was made operational by British’s and the slow growth pace of this sector up to the year 2003. He then D explained in great details the various major reforms under taken by Government of India between 1980 and 2006 which were attributable to the exponential growth story of this sector in India between 2003 – 2015 which has made many a nation envious of India. India is now next to China in the Telecom sector and by 2020 it will by far surpass China too.
He has studied and written extensively on Spectrum, Telecom and Power reforms. His innovative approaches and bold initiatives have not been well received in India but have been acclaimed overseas too. During his talk he explained the 2G revolution in India and while also touching upon 3G, 4G and the much talked about 5G in near future. Driving home his point of the need to increase the Broadband spectrum in India he showed a comparison of Spectrums of various countries and mega Hertz available per Million population. While India has 0.10 MHz available per Million of population countries like Netherlands & Belgium have 20.0 Mega Hertz available to every Million people. He was critical about the Optic Fibre plan of India for last mile connectivity for the simple reason that even if it gets achieved it will have no impact on Broadband.
Unveiling his thoughts on the future road map Baijal highlighted some key areas which need urgent focus for the growth and sustainability of Telecom sector in India , these included ‘Demand Side Management’, ‘lowering of Taxes & levies in the Telecom Sector ’, ‘Simplification of licensing & Regulations’, ‘Decreasing of Custom Duties on Broad Band Equipment” and ‘ Supply Side Management’. To ensure that the audience understands the reason why he suggests that these areas need to be focussed at, he deliberated on each of these at length.
Post the talk UPES students and faculty raised some pertinent queries on various aspects of the telecom sector which were answered by the guest speaker. Earlier Dr S J Chopra, Chancellor of UPES welcomed and introduced Mr Pradip Baijal to the audience. Baijal along with Ex chief secretary N Ravishanker also released a book on “Cold Chain logistics in Horticulture and Agriculture” on this occasion written and edited by Dr Neeraj Anand from College of Management in UPES and sponsored by NABARD.