Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Is the Broadband Policy worth the wait?

Really, is it? After all the hype and hoopla, what does the Minister deliver? A dud.

Was it worth the wait? Does it have vision? Does it break new ground? Does it make that leap? No.

Wonder what the TRAI is all about. If its recommendations are not to be considered worthy of acting upon, why ask it to deliberate and deliver a policy framework? Take local loop unbundling. A success in Japan. Done very well in France. Now being actively promoted by BT itself in the UK. But, here the Minister says that it has been a failure across the world! Perhaps his definition of the world is not the same as the rest of us.

Business Standard sums it up quite well:
"The only loser from policies designed to protect narrow sectional interests like those of BSNL is the consumer, and it is high time someone recognised this."
Om Malik opines:
"So what do I think of the new policy? First of all the current government, despite its noises about free markets, has a socialist agenda, and is trying to protect the incumbent monopolies. In other words, it did not take TRAI recommendations (which I think is a political decision more than anything else) and decided not to unbundle the last mile. I think that is precisely the kind of mess we have in US, and Indians have copied the worst possible example of telecom/broadband regulation. "

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