It has been two months since the government has taken equity in Vodafone Idea (Vi). Can you share an update on the company’s investment plans?
Vi is in discussions with financial institutions and investors, and we expect them to revert soon.
What is the focus area for the Telecommunications department (DoT) this year?
This year, we will be looking at ensuring rollout of services under the 4G saturation project across uncovered villages, acceleration of 5G rollout across India and completion of Bharatnet project connecting 220,000 gram panchayats (GP). A pilot project to roll out fiber to the home (FTTH) connections to rural households commenced in October 2022 and we have so far connected 250,000 households. Data consumed per home at 160 GB per month is amazing and points to huge pent-up demand.
Jio and Airtel are rolling out 5G networks. Is the government satisfied at the progress?
It (rollout) is growing at a very rapid pace. The fact that within a period of six months, telecom service providers (TSPs) have been able to cover over 570 districts with 140,000 5G base stations is heartening. This is despite challenges such as chip shortages. We believe that by early next year, we will have a pervasive rollout across the country.There have been concerns around quality of service (QoS) with rising call drops, etc. What is DoT doing to improve the situation?
The QoS regulations are being updated by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), which has held meetings with telecom operators on the issue. DoT is also working with telecom service providers on issues such as fiberisation of towers.
What is the update on BSNL‘s 4G tender?
It is in final stage of evaluation. We expect a decision by the end of April.
There is much focus on chip manufacturing. How will telecom sector benefit from it?
India has tremendous strength in fabless design of chipsets …We have a startup called Signalchip which has already come out with a 5G chipset, based on which they have built a 5G radio. The question is when they will be able to achieve scale and get some original equipment manufacturers or TSPs to adopt their chips and make products out of them. So, this is what we are working with them. Fabrication facilities will come up in some time from now.
What is the update on telecom bill?
The second draft is the final stages of consideration. We have received over 900 inputs from all stakeholders including Trai, broadcasting ministry, and other ministries. The inputs from all the stakeholders have been considered in the revised draft. The Minister for Communications has already made known the intent to table the bill in the Monsoon session of Parliament.
