When Kalyanaraman Rajaraman took charge as the telecom secretary in October 2021, the telecom industry was at a crossroads. While on one hand the DoT was implementing the telecom reform package, the focus was also towards promoting domestic manufacturing of telecom and networking products. Driven by the Rs 1,900-crore investment in the telecom production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme so far, the government expects in the next few years private firms will increase their procurement of telecom and related equipments from local sources.
Days before leaving charge as secretary, Rajaraman in an interaction with FE’s Jatin Grover talks about his tenure, how the private sector’s procurement of domestic telecom equipment will increase, need for synergies in R&D and what should be the focus of DoT going forward, among other things.
Edited excerpts:
Q. You spent close to two years as telecom secretary. Are you satisfied with your performance?
A. I am happy to work at a time when the focus has been on self-reliance and trying to build India’s capabilities. So far, we have been passive consumers of technology and for the first time, we are looking at building our own technology. So, it is very exciting to be part of this and all these capabilities are getting built now.
Q. Where do you think that the telecom department should now focus on?
A. I think there is a need to enhance synergies between the R&D done by the government departments, academic institutions, and private institutions, which will lead to better coordination and efficiency in development of solutions. There is a great possibility to have this GatiShakti approach to research and development also. For example, if there is one such organisation that is already working on a particular product, and some other institution somewhere is also working on a similar solution, then we need to work together, maybe also bring in startups and private industry altogether. If we all work together, then I think, the go to market for such solutions will be shorter.
Besides, now that we have tested the India telecom stack involving BSNL, TCS, Tejas Network, and C-DoT, we need to build on that and take it to the world. Many of the telecom equipment firms are already exporting, but we need to look at bigger kinds of exports as we have confidence now.
Q. What is the plan on promoting local telecom solution providers?
A.We have been following the Make in India approach in the telecom department as well. We need to have more Indian designed and manufactured equipment to grow the scale. The design-linked incentive scheme, where we are giving additional 1% incentive over the existing incentive rate, will lead to creation of much larger domestic telecom equipment base. Besides, already government departments and organisations such as BSNL have started to procure locally manufactured equipments. Further, defence, railways etc, also look for domestic players to source their telecom product requirements.
Q. By when we can see private operators choosing local equipment makers?
A. We expect private players to procure locally made telecom equipment soon because of the kind of quality enhancement that will come into play in manufacturing in India. Presently too, some of the equipments they are buying locally. We can see private companies already acquiring new local companies, building manufacturing capabilities within India.
Q. Do you think we need to incentivise private operators to buy equipment from local players?
A. I don’t think that kind of system will be feasible. Incentives should be in the form of supporting the industry to produce cost efficient equipment. Once the government procurement of local equipment happens, then the market scale gets built, which also brings the volume efficiency for local makers to offer such products at competitive prices. This will also prompt private players to buy local equipments. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is also working on a consultation on how the domestic telecom manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
Q. What is the update on the Telecom Bill? Any major changes expected?
A. The Bill is in its final stages and very shortly we will move to the next step, that is, seeking Cabinet approval. I won’t be able to share more details at the moment.
Q. Have we came to any decision on allocation of 6 GHz band for Wifi or telecom network?
A. The discussions are going on over that. We will keep you posted.