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BBG Communications
1658 Gailes Boulevard, San Diego, CA, 92154
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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

2008-12-11

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As these progressed, the government did face oppositions from ITI, DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labor unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.

In 1995, the government set up the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which significantly reduced the government’s role in telecommunications-related tariff setting and policy making. The DoT was in opposition to this.

The administration changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of A.B Vajpayee was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalization policies. It was also during this time that DoT was divided into two agencies – DOT was one, which retained policymaking functions and the other concentrated on its service function (DTS), but which was later renamed as BSNL.

The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investments from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposition party and left-leaning groups. Meanwhile, domestic business groups wanted the government to privatize VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake from 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% of the stake in VSNL....

As expected, many foreign investors participated in the Indian telecommunications markets especially, as in March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licenses to private operators. The government further reduced license fees for cellular service providers and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut, enabling every common middle class family in India to afford a cell phone.

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History of India's Mobile Industry