“Secured Governance” is the process to develop a Techno-Economic Corridor which will act as growth centre for individual sector with all other sectors playing a supporting role for the development and nation building process. The very concept of “Secured’ here implies a secured convergence or meeting with various sectors defining a growth for an economy."

India's telecom sector is one of the leading domestic industries. It has been playing a crucial role in India's growth story. Mobile phone penetration over the last few years has witnessed a phenomenal rise. India has the second largest mobile subscribers after China. Data connectivity solutions to enterprises and mobile devices are pervasive in the market and expanding rapidly to cover most rural areas. According to recent reports, India was purported to overtake China to become the world's largest mobile telecommunications market in 2013. It was also predicted that by 2013, the tele-density will shoot up to 84 per cent and the total mobile subscriber base would be a colossal 1.159 billion. Providing network coverage to these hundreds of millions of users are around 500,000 telecom towers, covering more than 90 per cent of the country's land area, and unnoticed for the most part by the people who rely on them.

The telecom industry is also one of the prime contributors to India's GDP. It contributes about 4 per cent to our GDP of Rs 107 lakh crore or $1.946 trillion (IMF Est 2012). The once monopolistic market is today, highly competitive. This has necessitated the growth of India telecom infrastructure.

Genesis and Evolution

More than 160 years old, Telecommunication was first introduced in India in 1851 when the first operational land lines were laid by the government near Kolkata, although telephone services were formally introduced in India much later in 1881. Further, in 1883, telephone services were merged with the postal system. In 1947, after India attained independence, all foreign telecommunication companies were nationalised to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a body that was governed by the Ministry of Communication. The Indian telecom sector was entirely under government ownership until 1984, when the private sector was allowed in telecommunication equipment manufacturing only. The government concretized its earlier efforts towards developing R&D in the sector by setting up an autonomous body - Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) in 1984 to develop state-of-the-art telecommunication technology to meet the growing needs of the Indian telecommunication network. The actual evolution of the industry started after the Government separated the Department of Post and Telegraph in 1985 by setting up the Department of Posts and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Three Phases

The evolution of modem telecom industry in India can be classified into three distinct phases

Phase I- Pre-Liberalization Era (1980-89)

Phase II- Post Liberalization Era (1990-99)

Phase III-Post-2000

Until the industry was liberalized in the early nineties, it was a heavily government-controlled and small-sized market, Government policies have played a key role in shaping the structure and size of the Telecom industry in India. As a result, the Indian telecom market is one of the most liberalized markets in the world with private participation in almost all of its segments. The New Telecom Policy (NTP-99) provided the much needed impetus to the growth of this industry and set the trend for liberalization in the industry.

India continues to be one of the fastest growing major telecom markets in the world. It is also one of the largest. Sweeping reforms introduced by successive Indian Governments over the last decade have dramatically changed the nature of telecommunications in the country. The mobile sector has grown from around 10 million subscribers in 2002 to pass the 950 million mark in February 2013. Events in 2012 were to see a correction in the market, but overall growth was continuing. GSM technology continued to dominate the mobile market in India;

Key Developments

Growth in India's telecom market remains strong despite the; mobile market going through a period of uncertainty. The 2G corruption scandal has caused problems for all stakeholders in the industry; the potential damage to foreign investment in India is just one issue causing concern. Broadband internet continues to see strong growth; broadband services have reached 60% of all internet services; wireless broadband systems have been helping increase the penetration of broadband across the market place.

PPP

The telecom sector needs about Rs. 2.30 lakh crore on investment for meeting the target of 100 per cent connectivity in rural areas and 60 crore broadband connections as envisaged in the National Telecom Policy according to Ernst &Young(EY), one of the largest professional service firms in the world.

The huge investment requirement cannot be met by the Government alone. It requires the involvement of private sector also. The Telecom Centers Of Excellence (TCOEs) set up in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, are an excellent example of the Government, the Academia and the Industry working together for the sustained growth and progress of the country. With Secured Governance more such centers of excellence can be established to put the industry on the global map.

Secured Governance For Telecom

“Secured Governance for Telecom Sector”  is a  concerted strategy to  build a viable and longstanding  relationship between development of telecom infrastructure and various other sectors along with various institutions as partners and Government as governing body to foster, coordinate , establish and promote a “Telecom  Hub” along various existing communication infrastructure or to come out with  a new cluster/s on important locations that improve and develop  the cluster as a whole through regional strategies, technology and interdependency among various sectors of growth.

Secured Governance will leverage the services of Aadhhar for telecom and internet connections. This will drastically reduce telecommunication connections to anti-national activities.

‘Tele Hub’

Effective “Secured Governance” will lead to the creation of 'TeleHub' in all the 22 circles across the nation. This will bring telecom service providers, handset manufacturers, vendors, value added service providers, tower owners, dealers, distributors and other allied operators together under a vibrant ecosystem. Such a ‘TeleHub' will not only provide tremendous job opportunities to millions of youth but also act as a catalyst in creating satellite towns for other industries. India can use her strength and skills in the telecom industry in helping other SAARC Nations by participating in their tenders to wean the region away from the growing Chinese influence.

Conclusion

“Secured Governance in the Telecom Sector” will streamline tax structure for the telecom industry and provide clarity on the withholding tax issues arising on account of the retrospective amendment in the royalty definition last year, which sought to cover telecom connectivity related payments. Scams will be eliminated through Secured Governance as transparency and accountability will become the order of the day. It will bring the players of telecom, regulatory agencies and TRAI together and ensure greater transparency and cooperation among them to build a strong, vibrant efficient telecom sector in India.