Speaking at the seminar, Mahendra Nahata, group chairman, HFCL, pointed out that policy has created so many artificial barriers: "The same network can deliver mobile, Internet, basic, long distance, paging, and all kinds of services. But in this day and age of convergence, one company, which wants to operate in these areas, has to get separate licences for each." He also said that the Government should not put a cap on the number of players there should be in the market: "Why should there be an issue of licencing and number of players in the our country? What scarce resources are we using? Let the player invest unless he is doing something illegal."

According to Nahata, if the government does not decide the number of players in the footwear industry, why do they want to restrict the number of players in the telecom sector. However, speaking at the same conference, RRN Prasad, member TRAI, said that regulation is important, because "unlike tomatoes or any other industry, telecom can never have perfect competition and regulation is an alternative to perfect competition." Drawing comparisons with the US telecom scenario, he pointed out that basic service is still a natural monopoly because it requires massive capital investments. According to him, worldwide convergence of regulation in the areas of multimedia - IT, telecom, and broadcasting - is being considered. Malaysia and Singapore have already converged regulations, he added.

Speaking about the impact of new market reforms, RK Takkar, former chairman, Telecom Commission, called for demolishing of licence fee and revenue sharing, opening up the market, and a free and fair regulatory regime: "Have a decent entry fee to keep put the non-serious players, but having done that leave them alone, let them compete." Reiterating the demand for convergence in regulation he said, "We are foolish enough to give separate licences for each segment even when the same operator is providing mobile, fixed, paging, Internet, etc. It will be more beneficial for the economy to converge."

Meanwhile, Nahata pointed out that it was a mistake to make it mandatory for Indian companies to have a foreign partner if it wanted to enter the telecom sector. In other countries, it is vice versa, foreign companies are condition-bound to have local partners. Nahata also said that real penetration of telephones will happen only if costs are brought down: "For that equipment manufacture in India should be given a boost, rather than lowering the custom duties to bring down the cost of importing equipment."

Replying to him, chairman of Department of Telecommunications, Shaymal Ghosh, who had inaugurated the conference, pointed out that steps for reducing the duties, such that they are lowest for raw materials and highest for finished good are being taken. Ghosh also predicted a shakeout in the ISPs: "With more than 270 players taking licences there is bound to be shakeout. A lot of mergers will take place and the others will fall to the wayside." Nahata was also of the view that arm twisting and frequent threats of licence cancellation, which the Government resorts to at the drop of a hat, must stop.