Hinting at strong action against those private cellular telecom companies who have not yet securitised the remaining 80 per cent of outstanding licence-fee dues, the minister said that action will be taken against such companies also in accordance with the law.

"We will look into the cases on an individual basis and we will enforce the conditions as per the licence agreement", he said. On the options before the DoT as regards licence-termination notices, the minister said that any action would be in line with the licence agreement

Jagmohan also came out strongly in defence of the roll back in duty concession on the WiLL, SDH and DLC eqiupment. Questioning the motives of those who have criticised the recent decision, Jagmohan said, "We are only providing a cushion to domestic research & development in order to providea level-playing field to manufacturers."

Taking a pro-swadeshi stance, Jagmohan said that continous improvement of Cor-DECT technology was possible and the incentive would spur indigenous technology development efforts. He said that multi-national manufacturers (MNCs) would in any case enjoy many advantages after three years due to the WTO accord on duty structures coming into affect.

The minister also said that a new pattern of distribution has been started to replace the existing method of connecting subscriber telephone terminals via overground cables.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MNTL) Delhi will now replace all telephone poles in the capital within the next one year. As part of this intiative, a number of areas, including Jangpura, have been shortlisted, where the telephone poles will be completely replaced with covered cables.

"This will not only improve the skyline of Delhi, but will also reduce the fault line and reduce waiting period for new connections", he added. This will be possible as thenew junction box will have additional phone pairs available.

No extra charges will be charged from subscribers for this facility and the programme will be taken up in two phases - till the onset of the monsoon and after that over the next one year. Jagmohan said that three new high-capacity telephone exchanges have been sanctioned for Delhi.

The minister has also set up a high-powered committee to look into the improvement of the directory enquiry 197 services. The committee, under CGM MTNL Delhi Bhatnagar, has been asked to suggest a plan to improve the service and make it more customer friendly.