Dr Jhunjunawala, who has his office in the sprawling IIT campus, is the master brain behind the now famous Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) technology which promises to network the umpteen remote rural hamlets to the national telecom network by eliminating the last mile copper cable hitch. He says that much of the dust and heat over `limited mobility' allowed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to basic operators is unnecessary.

In an interview with P Vinod Kumar, he says the drama has just begun, and when the curtains finally fall, with the government rationalising the operating norms, everybody will leave the stage with a smile. Ultimately, all this will spruce up telecom penetration and bring in more benefits to the customers. Excerpts:

What is your view on the recent Trai decision allowing limited mobility to basic telecom operators?
I personally welcome the Trai order. It is one more step in the process of liberalising the telecom sector and a progressive step. It will increase telephone penetration in the country significantly. But, I feel, we still have a long way to go in this regard.

But basic operators and cellular licencees, who were good neighbours till the other day, are at loggerheads over the issue?
Well, to understand this we should take a look at the respective technologies behind the fixed and mobile services. First of all, there is nothing like `limited mobility'. We have either fixed or basic telephones and mobile telephones.

There is a basic difference between basic and mobile telephony. In the former, the technology allows quality voice and data flow sans any mobility. In the case of the latter, there are two technologies in use world-wide. One is the GSM technology used widely in Europe and the rest of the world and IS95, which is in use in the United States.

In India, cellular services came with GSM and IS95 has been left out. Now, what we are seeing in the name of limited mobility is a sort of backdoor entry of this technology into the Indian market. It is actually a technology used in the mobile telephony services. IS95 is a costly technology than GSM and that is a major reason for its restricted use.

So there is some meat in the mobile licencees arguments?
Definitely. They have more than one reason to cry wolf.

So, what in your view is the root cause of this controversy?
We are just seeing the first act of the drama. To put it in perspective, we should take a look at the rules of the game that govern the sector. There are four key norms that rule the telecom sector in India now. First is the interconnect agreement, which is the basic revenue sharing agreement between the department of telecommunications (DoT) and the telecom licencees of both the categories. Second is the issue of license fee. Third, taxes, and fourth, frequency tariffs.

Today there is a great deal of anomaly as far as these norms are concerned between cellular licencees and basic operators. The license fee of cellular operators is much higher than that of the basic service providers. The revenue sharing charges are also higher in the case of mobile telephone service providers. Therefore, when basic telecom service providers enter the cellular turf by offering limited mobility, naturally, the latter feel infringed on their territory.

So you mean to say that basic service providers should be barred from offering limited mobility?
Absolutely not. I stand for the benefit of the customers. Anything that can bring additional benefits to the customers is most welcome. In fact, I want basic operators to offer limited mobility service as it is beneficial for the customers.

Similarly, I also want the government to allow mobile operators to provide basic services using another technology. In the end, it is the customer who benefits.

Finally, what do you suggest to resolve the ongoing tussle?
There is only one solution to settle the entire issue. The government should provide parity to all players in all aspects. Today, technology is bringing everything together. It is the era of convergence of one with the other. Naturally, what is happening today in the telecom sector is also a direct fallout of this technology shift. The government should realise this aspect and unify all the four parameters that I have discussed for both the basic providers and mobile licencees. Once this is done, both the parties will live happily forever. And in the end, this will serve the ultimate purpose of liberalisation; customers will get better services and the telecom penetration in the country will go up.