Going against the wishes of the department of telecommunications, the Economic Survey has said for broader and faster penetration of broadband, especially in the rural areas, the government should allow private players access to BSNL?s local loop, which provides ?last mile access?. If the same is done private players would not have to lay wireline telephone to provide broadband services but can simply do so by utilising BSNL?s infrastructure. The DoT has rejected any such proposal a couple of years back and even BSNL is vehemently opposed to it.
The Survey has also suggested that the government should not charge any revenue share licence fee and other telecom charges from operators for providing broadband connectivity in rural areas. Though the country has witnessed a mobile revolution the same has not happened in the case of broadband where the the total number of broadband connections is abysmally low at 6.5 million. Interestingly, BSNL is the market leader in broadband services.
The private operators have long been asking that they should be allowed to use the state-run BSNL?s cross country network since that has been created out of the public funds in the days of monopoly, hence the state-run telco?s monopoly over it must end. However, BSNL and the DoT have been against this since this would automatically hit the telco?s competitive advantage vis-a-vis the private players.