On Thursday, news of the new cabinet reshuffle filled the newspapers and the internet, with one of the most powerful offices in the country being handed over to relatively lesser-known people. Among these is also Ashwini Vaishnav, a 1994 batch IAS officer who has taken the reins of the telecom ministry from the previous office-bearer, Ravi Shankar Prasad. Vaishnav joins the office at a time when a lot of responsibilities happen to be looming on him. These include a lot of hurdles that the telecom industry happens to be facing. Here are some of the reeling issues which will take the headspace of the newly appointed telecom minister.
The first and foremost thing that the telecom minister will have to do is provide relief to the ailing telecom companies; the headliner in this list happens to be Vodafone Idea. The telecom minister is likely to decide on some of the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the sector regulator who will make suggestions on how the industry can be brought back to fair pricing. The ideation will probably involve some decision-making and brainstorming on the part of the minister with regard to floor pricing. Whatever be the case, the issue of Vodafone Idea is something that must be dealt with priority because the current unsustainable prices of data are a ticking time bomb for the company.
Revival of Public Telecom Companies
The next issue which the Wharton-grad cum present telecom minister will have to face is the revival of BSNL and MTNL. The two public telecom companies have been facing a deteriorating wave of finances and quality of service since the last half of the decade. The accelerated pace of 4G propagation in the country has put these two companies on back footing.
The second most burdensome responsibility on the shoulders of the telecom minister would be this. To breathe back life into these companies, ensure their survival for strategic importance and maintain the four-company structure of the telecom business as it remains indispensable for competitive and pricing reasons.
The rollout of 5G and Other Developments
The other issues that the minister will handle will include looking into the rollout of the 5G spectrum and ensuring trials and upcoming auctions. At the helm of DoT, he will be responsible for taking a cumulative decision on the pricing of the spectrum, which can make or break the future of the telecom business in India and also of the 5G network. The next in line would be the job of ensuring the smooth rollout of highly talked about schemes like PM-WANI to change the face of the public Wi-Fi business.
Looking at the credentials which Ashwini Vaishnaw seems to be bearing, it seems as though the telecom ministry happens to be in the right hands. Now it depends on the collective decision-making of the office-bearers and the top management of the companies as to how the industry is steered. Regardless of the fact which leads the telecom department, the fact remains that there are numerous problems plaguing the sector which require an immediate panacea.
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