Pankaj Agarwal front-runner for telecom secetary post

KOLKATA: Consumer affairs secretary PankajAgarwal, former head of the National Internet Exchange of India, has emerged as front-runner for the post of telecom secretary, officials familiar with the matter said. caThe telecom secretary's post will fall vacant when incumbent R Chandrasekhar retires at the end of the month.

"Agarwal is front-runner for the telecom secretary's post as he is seen as a bureaucrat who is industry-friendly and proactive...a crisis manager of sorts, which the telecom sector badly needs," one of the officials said.

However, senior officials in Sanchar Bhavan said the race is between Agarwal and department of information technology secretary J Satyanarayana.

While the Sanchar Bhavan officials said that Satyanarayana has "strong backers in the telecom department", some other officials pointed to his image as "somewhat rigid", especially because of his leaning towards domestic sourcing of electronic products vis-a-vis national security.

Agarwal, a 1978-batch IAS officer, has earlier served as joint secretary in the department of information technology. According to one of the officials quoted above, he is close to communications minister Kapil Sibal.

A senior executive, who did not want to be named, said Agarwal is "a known advocate of consumer rights with strong views against misleading ads in print and television media".

According to reports, Agarwal, who has also headed the Greater Noida Authority, was questioned in connection with alleged irregularities in the allotment of plots in the NOIDA farmhouse scheme.

The new telecom secretary will have his hands full in engaging with industry to minimise litigation and pull the sector out of regulatory mire. Among the challenges to be tackled will be conducting the next round of airwave sales and clearing the air on spectrum pricing, taking key decisions on the controversial one-time airwaves charge on existing telcos, and taking a call on spectrum refarming.

The secretary will also be expected to manage the upcoming licence renewals of GSM operators starting November 2014.