Do you think that with the New Telecom Policy being extended to existing operators, their problems can be resolved and the country can look forward to increased investment in the telecom sector?
The New Telecom Policy 1999 has been universally acknowledged by "people who know and understand telecom" including investors, funds, banks and international operators. They feel that the NTP'99 is a truly world-class policy. It addresses the interests ofthe Indian consumer, the investor, the banker, the operator and the regulator.

The policy establishes a competitive framework aimed at dismantling the monopoly in all areas including long distance (STD and ISD) telephony. It also addresses the rapidly changing and evolving nature of technologies and services that consumers all over the world experience. The impact of the policy will be felt in 12 to 18 months with new foreign and domestic investment coming in and prices falling.

What are your views about the terms laid down for transition of telecom companies?
The terms of the NTP '99 are uniform and non discriminatory. However, these are also very stiff. The government has offered operators the stiffest terms by taking the most conservative interpretation of the Attorney General's opinion. The industry will have to pay up over Rs 3,500 crore in the next six months as fees as part of the transition and in addition face up to increased competition and lower tariffs.

Moreover, the industry isbeing asked to give up all its legal claims for damages caused by delays in clearances of the government. The BICP, which has itself admitted to these delays, had recommended up to a 24-month change in effective date of licences. However, this government has only given us six months effective date change and linking this to dropping of all litigations in courts.

Further, the policy was announced on March 26 while operators are required to pay up all dues calculated till July 31. This itself amounts an extra burn of around Rs 800 crore on companies.

How do you react to the reference made to the telecom package as the ``scam of the millenium'' and how would you defend the allegations made on the government and the industry?
I am frankly bewildered by all this talk. The process of creating a new telecom policy, that was initiated in October last year, is frankly the most transparent one I have seen or experienced. It was open consultative process which involved 17,000 responses on the internetwhere the draft policy was put up. The participants included eminent personalities from the government, financial sector, IT task force who participated to finalise the policy.The transition terms were referred to the learned AG who determined the terms and the licence fees will now be determined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) -- all statutory bodies. Further, the TRAI is known to follow an open consultative process before finalising their recommendations, making the whole exercise an extremely transparent one.

The accusations have more to do with politics and elections than the telecom sector and economics.

How does the road ahead appear for the telecom industry? Do you have any misgivings about the NTP?
I think that the country -- in terms of its consumers, its bureaucrats and its politicians -- needs to understand that infrastructure liberalisation and development through private capital is not a simple task. It requires consistent policy making, commitments of the government ofthe day and building up investor confidence.

A lot more still needs to be done. The execution of the policy has to be consistent with its vision. Also the institution which will keep this process transparent and focussed on the consumers the regulator needs to be strengthened. A strong TRAI is a prerequisite for inflow of investment into the sector.

Do you think the financial institutions are now actually going to begin investing funds in the sector, which they have hitherto been shy of doing?
There is a lot of work to be done in developing infrastructure projects in India to be finance-able on a non-recoursable basis. That is the litmus test of the success of the policy of the sector. Despite the initiation of liberalisation policy almost a decade ago, the infrastructure sector has met with limited success.

The high risk perception of these projects and the lack of viability is accompanied with regulatory, market and country risks. It is precisely because of this risk perception that mostpower projects that have got financed in the initial period required sovereign counter guarantees. Unfortunately none of this is available to the telecom sector. Already $ 5 billion has come into the country from various sources banks, investors, suppliers credit, equity etc. But the sector requires consistent inflow of capital which has not happened over the last 18 months or so ever since policy confusions in the sector persisted.