Speaking to reporters here after a session organised by the TRAI on the subject, Sodhi said the authority is working towards the January 1 deadline so that the new Government could act on its recommendations.

The TRAI held a series of sessions across various cities to discuss a consultation paper prepared on the basis of a study conducted by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The Government had sought the recommendations on the modalitis for opening up the national long distance communications (DLD) with specific reference to the scope of the service, the service area, the number of operators, licence fee structure and thee selection criteria for the service providers.

"The public hearing are now over and once we get back to Delhi we willconsult with the operators, members of the Planning Commission, the financial institutions and economists before we finalise our recommendations", Sodhi said.

Asked whether a common view had emerged from the public hearings, TRAI members said there seemed to be a consensus on giving the customer choice of operator, choice of type of service and on introducing competition at the existing circle levels itself. The new telecom policy of 1999 envisages the use of existing backbone network of public and private power transmission companies, railways, Gail, ongc among others for national long distance data communication with immediate effect while it has set a January 1, 2000 date for opening up the DLD voice communication. Meanwhile, TRAI members also reiterated they are not against entry of new technology into the country and are not blocking the attempts of the MTNL to introduce the CDMA telephony."We are not against CDMA", NR Ramachandran, former chairman MTNL and now member of the TRAI said.