Editing Telecommunications in India (section)

===Liberalisation and privatisation===
[[File:Cell Phone Tower in Ladakh India with Buddhist Prayer Flags.jpg|thumb|A mobile phone tower in Leh, Ladakh, India, surrounded by Buddhist prayer flags]]

The liberalisation of the Indian telecommunications industry started in 1981 when then Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]] signed contracts with Alcatel CIT of France to merge with the state owned Telecom Company (ITI), in an effort to set up 5 million telecom lines per year. Soon after the contracts were signed, the policy was left unfufilled due to political opposition.<ref name="Dash" /> Attempts to liberalise the telecommunication industry were continued by the following government under the prime-minister-ship of [[Rajiv Gandhi]]. He invited [[Sam Pitroda]], a US-based [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Non-resident Indian (NRI)]] and a former [[Rockwell International]] executive to set up a [[C-DOT|Centre for Development of Telematics]] (C-DOT) which manufactured electronic telephone exchanges in India for the first time.<ref name="Kohli2006">{{cite book|author=Vanita Kohli|title=The Indian Media Business|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hllyb6ymMy0C&pg=RA3-PA189|access-date=19 June 2012|date=14 June 2006|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-0-7619-3469-1|pages=189–|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509102802/http://books.google.com/books?id=hllyb6ymMy0C&pg=RA3-PA189|archive-date=9 May 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Sam Pitroda had a significant role as a consultant and adviser in the development of telecommunication in India.<ref>{{cite book|author=Marcus F. Franda|title=China and India Online: Information Technology Politics and Diplomacy in the World's Two Largest Nations|url=https://archive.org/details/chinaindiaonline0000fran|url-access=registration|access-date=19 June 2012|year=2002|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-1946-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinaindiaonline0000fran/page/137 137]–|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 1985, the [[Department of Telecom]] (DoT) was separated from Indian Post & Telecommunication Department. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1986 when [[Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited]] (MTNL) and [[Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited]] (VSNL) were carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of metro cities ([[Delhi]] and [[Mumbai]]) and international long-distance operations respectively.<ref name="Kohli2006"/>

The demand for telephones continued to increase and in the 1990s the Indian government was under mounting pressure to open up the telecom sector for private investment as a part of the [[Liberalisation]]-[[Privatisation]]-[[Globalisation]] policies that the government accepted to overcome the severe fiscal crisis and resultant [[balance of payments]] issue in 1991. Consequently, private investment in the sector of Value Added Services (VAS) was allowed and cellular telecom sector were opened up for competition from private investments. It was during this period that the [[Narsimha Rao]]-led government introduced the ''National Telecommunications policy (NTP)'' in 1994 which brought changes in the ownership, service and regulation of the national telecommunications infrastructure. The policy introduced the concept of ''telecommunication for all'' and its vision was to expand the telecommunication facilities to all the villages in India.<ref name="Arasu2008">{{cite book|author=J.G. Valan Arasu|title=Globalisation And Infrastructural Development In India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqCNSdZwcsUC&pg=PA105|access-date=19 June 2012|date=1 April 2008|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-269-0973-5|pages=105–|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509115558/http://books.google.com/books?id=lqCNSdZwcsUC&pg=PA105|archive-date=9 May 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Liberalisation in the basic telecom sector was also envisaged in this policy.<ref name="Dossani2002">{{cite book|author=Rafiq Dossani|title=Telecommunications Reform in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=waNrXeuXcacC&pg=PA106|access-date=19 June 2012|date=1 July 2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-56720-502-2|pages=106–|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509122052/http://books.google.com/books?id=waNrXeuXcacC&pg=PA106|archive-date=9 May 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> They were also successful in establishing joint ventures between state owned telecom companies and international players. Foreign firms were eligible to 49% of the total stake. The multi-nationals were just involved in technology transfer, and not policy making.<ref name="Dash">{{cite web|url=http://www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/publications/magazine/fall2005/pdf-files/Telecom_RevJune27AS__1.pdf|title=Veto Players and the Deregulation of State-Owned Enterprises: The Case of Telecommunications in India|last=Dash|first=Kishore|access-date=26 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911040829/http://www.thunderbird.edu/wwwfiles/publications/magazine/fall2005/pdf-files/Telecom_RevJune27AS__1.pdf|archive-date=11 September 2008|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

During this period, the World Bank and [[ITU]] had advised the Indian Government to liberalise long-distance services to release the monopoly of the state-owned DoT and VSNL and to enable competition in the long-distance carrier business which would help reduce tariff's and better the economy of the country. The Rao run government instead liberalised the local services, taking the opposite political parties into confidence and assuring foreign involvement in the long-distance business after 5 years. The country was divided into 20 telecommunication circles for basic telephony and 18 circles for mobile services. These circles were divided into category A, B and C depending on the value of the revenue in each circle. The government threw open the bids to one private company per circle along with government-owned DoT per circle. For cellular service two service providers were allowed per circle and a 15 years licence was given to each provider. During all these improvements, the government did face oppositions from [[Indian Telephone Industries|ITI]], DoT, MTNL, VSNL and other labour unions, but they managed to keep away from all the hurdles.<ref name="Dash"/>

In 1997, the government set up TRAI ([[Telecom Regulatory Authority of India]]) which reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policymaking. The political powers changed in 1999 and the new government under the leadership of [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]] was more pro-reforms and introduced better liberalisation policies. In 2000, the [[Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee|Vajpayee government]] constituted the [[Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal]] (TDSAT) through an amendment of the TRAI Act, 1997.<ref name="TDSAT - profile">{{cite web|title=TDSAT - profile|url=http://tdsat.nic.in/profile2.htm|access-date=20 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508223006/http://www.tdsat.nic.in/profile2.htm|archive-date=8 May 2012}}</ref><ref name="TRAI Act">{{cite web|title=TRAI Act|url=http://www.tdsat.nic.in/Vol.1_%20Part-1%28bare%20acts%29.pdf|access-date=20 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520005806/http://www.tdsat.nic.in/Vol.1_%20Part-1%28bare%20acts%29.pdf|archive-date=20 May 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The primary objective of TDSAT's establishment was to release TRAI from adjudicatory and dispute settlement functions in order to strengthen the regulatory framework. Any dispute involving parties like licensor, licensee, service provider and consumers are resolved by TDSAT. Moreover, any direction, order or decision of TRAI can be challenged by appealing in TDSAT.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.dot.gov.in/osp/Brochure/Brochure.htm |title= Department of Telecommunications Ministry of Communications & IT |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111124101505/http://www.dot.gov.in/osp/Brochure/Brochure.htm |archive-date= 24 November 2011 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> The government corporatised the operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as ''Department of Telecommunication Services (DTS)'' which was later named as [[Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited]] (BSNL). The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political parties and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatise VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL.<ref name="Dash"/>

This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian telecom markets. After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licences to private operators. The government further reduced licence 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 greatly enabling every common middle-class family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/Reports/1/report31jan06.pdf |title=Draft Information Paper on Dial-up Internet Access |access-date=1 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720114530/http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/Reports/1/report31jan06.pdf |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Many private operators, such as [[Reliance Communications]], [[Jio]], [[Tata Indicom]], [[Vodafone Essar|Vodafone]], [[Loop Mobile India|Loop Mobile]], [[Airtel India|Airtel]], [[Idea Cellular|Idea]] etc., successfully entered the high potential Indian telecom market. In the initial 5–6 years the average monthly subscribers additions were around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stood at 10.5 million. However, after a number of proactive initiatives taken by regulators and licensors, the total number of mobile subscribers has increased rapidly to over 929 million subscribers as of May 2012.

In March 2008, the total [[GSM]] and [[CDMA]] mobile subscriber base in the country was 375 million, which represented a nearly 50% growth when compared with previous year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Telecom/GSM-CDMA-players-maintain-subscriber-growth-momentum/articleshow/4281903.cms|title=GSM, CDMA players maintain subscriber growth momentum-Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times|publisher=Economictimes.indiatimes.com|date=18 March 2009|access-date=22 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160726202022/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/gsm-cdma-players-maintain-subscriber-growth-momentum/articleshow/4281903.cms|archive-date=26 July 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
As the unbranded Chinese cell phones which do not have [[International Mobile Equipment Identity]] (IMEI) numbers pose a serious security risk to the country, [[Mobile network operator]]s therefore suspended the usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8% of all mobiles in the country) by 30 April 2009. Phones without valid IMEI cannot be connected to cellular operators.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-story-behind-mobiles-without-imei-number/article64200.ece "TTC DOT Directs ban on usage of Chinese"], ''The Hindu! News''  {{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

India has opted for the use of both the [[Global System for Mobile Communications|GSM (global system for mobile communications)]] and [[Code division multiple access|CDMA (code-division multiple access)]] technologies in the [[mobile phone|mobile]] sector. In addition to [[landline]] and mobile phones, some of the companies also provide the [[Wireless local loop|WLL]] service. The mobile tariffs in India have also become the lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only.

Decentralisation has been the new push by the government through PM WANI scheme launched in Dec 2020 to push Internet penetration above the current 50% threshold into smaller towns and villages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=India: internet penetration rate 2024 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/792074/india-internet-penetration-rate/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=Statista |language=en |archive-date=10 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410071327/https://www.statista.com/statistics/792074/india-internet-penetration-rate/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This opens up opportunities for multiple small and medium scale local business models<ref>{{Cite web |title=PM-WANI Central Registry |url=https://pmwani.gov.in/wani/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=pmwani.gov.in |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429043454/https://pmwani.gov.in/wani/ |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as decentralized solutions using [[Cryptocurrency|Blockchain]].