LEADER ARTICLE
It's the Government's Call Now

Only the naive believed that once the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) delivers its order on Wireless in Local Loop (WLL), the mess in telecom would be history. What it has done though is to put the entire issue in perspective, specially the dissenting order of the tribunal chairman Justice D P Wadhwa. As he ripped through the systems adopted by the government and the regulator to legitimise the wrong, the allegations made by several telecom observers received the stamp of judicial interpretation for the first time.
The other two members, R U S Prasad and P R Dasgupta, who had failed to notice anything wrong with the matter earlier, and on whose earlier order the apex court was forced to ask the tribunal to take another look at the matter, too concurred this time that apart from the level playing field issues, there indeed was a case for limiting mobility within the SDCA (short distance charging area) and to restrict roaming. Following this, the regulator has asked the government to restrict mobility, which, in turn, it is reported, has decided to ignore the directive, supposedly because of the thousands of crores that the WLL proponents have invested so far.
In between, everybody is being convinced to agree to a unified licence, and once again the issue of granting a fifth mobile licence to the WLL operators at the rate at which the fourth licence was handed over is being talked about.
When the Supreme Court had earlier asked the tribunal to relook at the issues, even as it refused to stay Limited Mobility, it stated categorically that WLL operators are free to roll out their networks at their own risk because they would be bound by the ultimate decision to be given by the tribunal. When the court’s ruling is categorical, why does the government trot out the excuses like they have invested so much, how can we let it go waste and third party interest theories? As for making it the fifth licence by paying what the fourth licensee paid, one thing is being conveniently forgotten.
When the licence is auctioned, it depends on the bid, and there is no certainty that a bidder would get through. Now to legitimise someone who chose to walk out of the process then can only give ideas to others on how to circumvent the system.
Then, the other day, the Telecom Regula-tory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman made a statement that predatory pricing is not an issue he is concerned with. The statement is startling, and dangerous, at the same time. Predatory pricing may be good for the consumers in the short-run, but in the long-run, it has the potential to kill competition, facilitate the return of monopoly and poor service. So, not only is it anti-competitive but also anti-consumer.
Is it not the job of the regulator to look at it then? Anywhere else in the world, if a regulator made such a statement, he would be hauled over the coals, but here, of course, we do things differently. Little wonder then that the same person had earlier suggested to a market research firm that he wants to use unified licensing as a fall-back option in case the tribunal rules against WLL with mobility.
In between, stung by Justice Wadhwa’s allegations, the government reportedly toyed with the idea of challenging him in court. Seems someone somewhere counselled against this. This is unfortunate since court cases are almost the only way to get to the truth in this country. In fact, any self-respecting government would actually order an investigation into the allegations.
Looking at the bigger picture though, it is really sad that one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy is bedevilled by litigation.
As mentioned before in these columns, the way out of the mess is to not go in for piecemeal solutions as is the wont. Not only are they done at the behest of the favoured corporates, confusing the situation further, but sometimes smack of the quota raj — ‘you asked for three things, we will grant you one kind’. Merit is almost never the main criteria. Thanks to the mess that the sector has now become, and the position rivals always end up taking, it seems unlikely that there will ever be a situation where all parties are in full agreement with any decision taken and not resort to further litigation.
So what is the solution? It is difficult to imagine the government calling a spade a spade and taking a decision on merit, which may hurt some but would go a long way in removing the cobwebs that have restricted the sector so far. In its absence, perhaps there should be a meeting of the entire industry, and the government. They must sit down together with their lawyers and advisors and whoever else they think can help. The condition should be that they are not allowed to get out of the meeting room/hall until there is consensus on each and every contentious issue.
In a country beset with so many seemingly far greater problems, expecting an issue like telecom to get such treatment would seem silly. But considering the positive impact that a good telecom network has on the economy, someone responsible has to stand up and take the call.