Infact, the crux of Jagmohan's speech can be drawn from his reply to CII telecom committee chairman Vijai Kapur's welcome address. Referring to the thick fog enveloping the entire city, Kapur said, "there is thick fog outside and we plead with you to clear the fog in telecom."

In response, the minister later told Kapur, "the fog would be cleared in a very few moments if only industry agrees to pay up its dues immediately."The growing chasm among industry leaders over the questionof paying up is evident from their response to Jagmohan's comments at the conference sidelights. When questioned about letters written by industry associations like COAI and ABTO to him for a moratorium/extension in payment of the 20 per cent dues, the minister said, "show me the letters that they claim to have written".

It now seems that industry has not despatched letters to the minister on the issue. Infact, a senior official of ABTO said, "how can we write asking for an extension till March 31, as this will automatically imply that we have agreed to pay up the dues."

Different segments of the telecom industry like basic, cellular and other operators, will in all probability strike out on individual basis in order to arrive at an understanding with the ministry.

However, operators reiterated their arguments, with Raju Patel, president, ABTO, saying that the minister's questions showed lack of trust between the industry and the government. TV Ramachandran, president COAI said there were seriousconcerns over the scope, structure and direction of the draft discussion paper.

Rajiv Chandrashekhar, chairman, BPL Telecom, said a series of ad hoc measures in the past had prevented the development of telecom sector in the country. "There is an immense amount of frustration in industry and also lack of trust about the government's motives," he said.

But it was Sunil Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises, who attempted to find an answer to the ministers speech. Stating that all investments in the telecom industry had come to a standstill, Mittal said, "it is true that the industry made a mistake while committing abnormally high licence fee. But the industry's problem could snowball into a national problem if the government does not alter the framework of licence fee for private operators."

Mittal entreated the minister to take a lenient view and requested for "forgiveness" for what he termed as a "national mistake" committed by industry in the past by pledging huge licence fee payments.

Mittal alsowanted the government to come clean on the issue immediately, so as to avoid further confusion and hair splitting amongst private operators. "We must know the final decision now," he demanded.

Industry representatives left the venue with a mixed message, one of hope and one of despair, with Mittal assuring the minister that they would come back to him with answers and seek his blessings for the future.