According to senior Department of Telecom (DoT) officials, "While the government will allow the basic service operators to appoint franchisees, in return of a revenue share, however the service quality requirements will continue to be the responsibility of the company, which will be given the licence."

Govt set to permit basic operators appointing local franchiseesThis is being done to facilitate faster proliferation of telecom services into the villages. "Instead of controlling telecom, we should be facilitating easy and cheap access to consumers," add Sanchar Bhawan officials.

As per the new policy, basic telecom operators will be allowed to appoint small operators to run their own exchange, in a local area, where they otherwise would not have been interested in rolling out services, in return for a revenue share.

According to Mr SC Khanna, secretary, Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO), "This will work on the concept of merchandising service and allowing it to be retailed to ensure faster roll-out and quick customer service."Just like in case of consumer durables, while the people buy the good from the local dealer, but the responsibility for the performance of the product lies with the company which manufactures the goods, in this case, while the local franchisee will run and operate services, the licence holder will be responsible for the quality of service, he explained.

DoT officials also draw examples from the success of the small time cable operators, who have rolled out cable network in country, faster than any company, and are available at the beck and call of the customer, at all times of day and night to explain the concept. "We hope to replicate the success of this model in basic services," say DoT officials.