Communications, undoubtedly, is one of the most critical infrastructure requirements of a nation. A country like India, with it's 900 million population, over 500 districts, nearly 5,000 villages and sprawling metropolis' having population equivalent to that of many countries needs an extensive infrastructure to serve such a large mass of humanity . The DoT was, till middle of 1994, the government's sole institution for meeting the telcom needs of the country.
The DoT is a division of the Ministry of Communications. DoT has been the owner of the national telcom network other than for Delhi and Bombay.. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) is the owner of telcom networks in Delhi and Bombay. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) is the international arm of the Indian telcom sector. Both MTNL and VSNL are government controlled corporates. The scenario is changing, with the deregulation of this sector. Privatisation of the basic services is not absolute as the government will continue to regulate tariffs and allocate areas for operating networks.
The telcom scenario has been undergoing rapid transformation, particularly in the last decade, when selective competition was introduced in the basic telcom services. It must be emphasized that selective competition was introduced only after a network had attained a certain size and traffic volume. Even then, the competition that can be or has been introduced in the system is limited. Only five amongst the 19 countries that have introduced privatisation allow competition in the loop and only six allow competition in the trunk services. Here too, the carriers are restricted to two or at most three. This is in clear contrast with India's current National Telecommunications Policy (NTP) of allowing 30 or more telcom local network operators. As per the new policy, a multiplicity of operators is envisaged even in the local loop. Areas in which India can offer joint ventures for production and technology transfer are switching equipment, cables and transmission equipment, terminal equipment and software for telecom.
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