When the Internet policy was framed and announced by Government of India in 1998 there were no entry fees, no revenue share and the Internet Service Providers (ISP) could have his business in one city many cities ; one state many states of the whole of India.
And he could use wireless to access the customer and Internet to connect with the Internet through its own VSATs. This is one of the most liberal and service promoting policy in the entire world and was hailed as such. The NDA government accepted the plea that access to information, Internet service and telecommunications conduce to the building up of human resources, making information & knowledge accessible to every equipped Indian and therefore there should be no external cost imposed on the Internet service. Just as we don’t tax education . The same philosophy guided the NDA government and its Communications Minister in their migrating the private telephone companies (P-telcos) from an upfront crippling licence fee payment regime to one for revenue sharing and progressively opening up a national & international direct dialing to competition and corporatisation of the government’s telecom services into the BSNL.
All these measures led to the phenomenal growth of mobile telephony and public Internet kiosks ( just like public STD booths) on the larger number of telecom & telecom revenues government is getting a service tax and an education cess together amounting to over 12%. Actually these taxes are contrary to the concept that telecommunications conduce to human and economic development and the services should not be burdened with taxes and imposts at least for some time until the teledensity reaches about 70% or so as in China. One could except that the UPA government would be as liberal and understanding and generous as the NDA government in promoting telecommunications – mobile telephony & internet .
The mobile telephony in India today is of second generation technology with limited speech of data transportation because of limited bandwidth. The third generation mobile service use the radio spectrum in a different bands from those of the current GSM technology. It is called the 3G or third generation . They allows high speeds of 11mega bits and above so that what has come to be known as triple play telephony, data and video could be supported .
In Europe spectrum for the 3G services was auctioned. Companies bid billions of Euros and very soon from that there would be not enough investors to raise the money as because of spectrum was crippling and therefore to the service would have to be rise beyond the reach of a mass of users. They then petitioned the government to allow them to delay the deployment of the network. Even that did not help them to build the networks. Then they petitioned the government again to allow the sharing of the infrastructure namely the towers for the radio base stations and even a network. The competing companies would be selling traffic minutes and handsets and that all the multiplicity while the networks maybe one or two but not more so that the investment money required would be less. In the services could be affordable to many. This is what is agreed to in many countries of the European Union. This experience must be a lesson for us .
But unfortunately in the past the DOT which is supposed to promote teleecom usage and make the service more and more affordable took the initiative of proposing licence fees revenue share, entry fees and many other imposts. That shows the persistence of the monopolistic ideology in the officials of the DoT . Luckily over a period of time when the DOT’s telephone service got corporatised and the BSNL /MTNL are having to compete with the P-Telcos they are realizing that their existence in prosperity depends upon large mass of users and that could forthcoming only if the prices are flash to increase affordability. Therefore slowly the erstwhile monopolies now having to run competing companies are fearing to the view that the entry fee, revenue share spectrum charges should not be too high. While citizens thankful for this changed view but this is not sufficient. Actually as a promoter of telecom usage the DOT ought to be pledging that the service tax the education cess the Revenue Share must all be nominal and not phenomenal. If not for all time at least until the teledensity and also internet usage reach respectable levels like about 70% for the former and about 25%-35% for the latter service.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is reported to be wanting to impose an entry fee of Rs.250 cr. for the 3G spectrum. And a Revenue Share of 6%. The MOF hopes to raise Rs. 100cr from each telecom company applying for 3G spectrum licences. This is atrocious. There would have been a redeeming merit if all the amounts realised from telecom companies were put into a pool and used to promote the telecom research, indigenous telecom manufacturing industry and lifting up teledensity and Internet usage in the rural areas. No such noble ideas seem to be informing he MOF when it is wanting to make Rs. 1000 cr from each 3G companies for years they seem to be forgetting the wisdom in:
Let there be a chicken
Let it grow
Let it lay eggs
Let these eggs be golden ones and numerous and then I can take part of them.
Instead it wants to oppress them by imposing entry fee, revenue share etc. And what does MOF do with this money, use mostly for the program for feeding and breeding that is, subsidized rice and wheat and kerosene and sugar, free electricity, free house sites low interest non-realisable home buildings assistance and loans etc., which can bring votes but do not build any human resource. It is the characteristic of Nehrvian characteristic of India to neglect education and human resource development . Every Asian country which gained independence from colonial rule later than India has with in two to there decades achieved literacy and education levels for over 90% of their population but in India as vote getting is the prime consideration of Nehruvian socialist parties even after 58 years simple literacy is no more than 68% . The political parties and leaders wish to thrive one ignorance and the gullibility of poor people by keeping them for every poor and rewarding them only at election times cash in their pocket and drink in their mouths. And of course of late, by gifts of saries and TV sets and so on. None of these help building up our human resource development in stead they degrade the human mind which expects more and more that government should do everything for them and they themselves need not do anything.
It is astounding that so enlightened a person as the one who at head of the Tata Telecom has proposed an entree fee for Rs. 1500cr of the 3G spectrum licences. It seems to be outdoing even the Ministry of Finance and this could only be to crush any competitor venturing to challenge he vested interest this, the companies which are already in the mobile service business. Is is fortvit us that the growth of customers for this company is lack-luster. All wise men has and those who want that the country and its people should benefit from information knowledge should demand that the entry fee that instead of entry free, entry must be free; instead revenue shave which revenue share is it should be a nominal share to meet the cost of licencing and administering the spectrum. The policy of keeping the costs low by foreign the greedy revenues could be reviews every 5 years to see that the telecom & Internet usage as increased and from that usage people are deriving benefits and therefore it would not be burdensome for them to pay some taxes to the government .
Courtesy: Dr.Hanuman Chowdhary
All these measures led to the phenomenal growth of mobile telephony and public Internet kiosks ( just like public STD booths) on the larger number of telecom & telecom revenues government is getting a service tax and an education cess together amounting to over 12%. Actually these taxes are contrary to the concept that telecommunications conduce to human and economic development and the services should not be burdened with taxes and imposts at least for some time until the teledensity reaches about 70% or so as in China. One could except that the UPA government would be as liberal and understanding and generous as the NDA government in promoting telecommunications – mobile telephony & internet .
The mobile telephony in India today is of second generation technology with limited speech of data transportation because of limited bandwidth. The third generation mobile service use the radio spectrum in a different bands from those of the current GSM technology. It is called the 3G or third generation . They allows high speeds of 11mega bits and above so that what has come to be known as triple play telephony, data and video could be supported .
In Europe spectrum for the 3G services was auctioned. Companies bid billions of Euros and very soon from that there would be not enough investors to raise the money as because of spectrum was crippling and therefore to the service would have to be rise beyond the reach of a mass of users. They then petitioned the government to allow them to delay the deployment of the network. Even that did not help them to build the networks. Then they petitioned the government again to allow the sharing of the infrastructure namely the towers for the radio base stations and even a network. The competing companies would be selling traffic minutes and handsets and that all the multiplicity while the networks maybe one or two but not more so that the investment money required would be less. In the services could be affordable to many. This is what is agreed to in many countries of the European Union. This experience must be a lesson for us .
But unfortunately in the past the DOT which is supposed to promote teleecom usage and make the service more and more affordable took the initiative of proposing licence fees revenue share, entry fees and many other imposts. That shows the persistence of the monopolistic ideology in the officials of the DoT . Luckily over a period of time when the DOT’s telephone service got corporatised and the BSNL /MTNL are having to compete with the P-Telcos they are realizing that their existence in prosperity depends upon large mass of users and that could forthcoming only if the prices are flash to increase affordability. Therefore slowly the erstwhile monopolies now having to run competing companies are fearing to the view that the entry fee, revenue share spectrum charges should not be too high. While citizens thankful for this changed view but this is not sufficient. Actually as a promoter of telecom usage the DOT ought to be pledging that the service tax the education cess the Revenue Share must all be nominal and not phenomenal. If not for all time at least until the teledensity and also internet usage reach respectable levels like about 70% for the former and about 25%-35% for the latter service.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is reported to be wanting to impose an entry fee of Rs.250 cr. for the 3G spectrum. And a Revenue Share of 6%. The MOF hopes to raise Rs. 100cr from each telecom company applying for 3G spectrum licences. This is atrocious. There would have been a redeeming merit if all the amounts realised from telecom companies were put into a pool and used to promote the telecom research, indigenous telecom manufacturing industry and lifting up teledensity and Internet usage in the rural areas. No such noble ideas seem to be informing he MOF when it is wanting to make Rs. 1000 cr from each 3G companies for years they seem to be forgetting the wisdom in:
Let there be a chicken
Let it grow
Let it lay eggs
Let these eggs be golden ones and numerous and then I can take part of them.
Instead it wants to oppress them by imposing entry fee, revenue share etc. And what does MOF do with this money, use mostly for the program for feeding and breeding that is, subsidized rice and wheat and kerosene and sugar, free electricity, free house sites low interest non-realisable home buildings assistance and loans etc., which can bring votes but do not build any human resource. It is the characteristic of Nehrvian characteristic of India to neglect education and human resource development . Every Asian country which gained independence from colonial rule later than India has with in two to there decades achieved literacy and education levels for over 90% of their population but in India as vote getting is the prime consideration of Nehruvian socialist parties even after 58 years simple literacy is no more than 68% . The political parties and leaders wish to thrive one ignorance and the gullibility of poor people by keeping them for every poor and rewarding them only at election times cash in their pocket and drink in their mouths. And of course of late, by gifts of saries and TV sets and so on. None of these help building up our human resource development in stead they degrade the human mind which expects more and more that government should do everything for them and they themselves need not do anything.
It is astounding that so enlightened a person as the one who at head of the Tata Telecom has proposed an entree fee for Rs. 1500cr of the 3G spectrum licences. It seems to be outdoing even the Ministry of Finance and this could only be to crush any competitor venturing to challenge he vested interest this, the companies which are already in the mobile service business. Is is fortvit us that the growth of customers for this company is lack-luster. All wise men has and those who want that the country and its people should benefit from information knowledge should demand that the entry fee that instead of entry free, entry must be free; instead revenue shave which revenue share is it should be a nominal share to meet the cost of licencing and administering the spectrum. The policy of keeping the costs low by foreign the greedy revenues could be reviews every 5 years to see that the telecom & Internet usage as increased and from that usage people are deriving benefits and therefore it would not be burdensome for them to pay some taxes to the government .
Courtesy: Dr.Hanuman Chowdhary