India on the cusp of a new revolution in telecom, can lead the world in 6G: Jyotiraditya Scindia

India can lead the world in 6G, after keeping pace with the world in 3G and 5G, communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.

Speaking with Kiran Rathee and Romit Guha, Scindia, also the minister of development of north eastern region (DoNER), said the government has fixed no timeline to sell its stake in Vodafone Idea but is also unconcerned about the day-to-day operations of the professionally-run company. He added that a competitive industry offering choice and quality of services to consumers, boosting local manufacturing and R&D are among the key priorities for him. Edited excerpts:

What are your top priorities for the telecom sector?

Today, telecom drives the economic destiny of nations. Interconnectivity, communication, access to information, are what makes a paradigm shift in people's capability to succeed and in the last decade India has leapfrogged on many fronts. The total number of mobile connections from 900 million has gone up to 1,160 million subscribers-almost 85% penetration. In terms of the internet, we have gone from 200 million to 950 million. On the tariff side, there has been a 94% drop.

What used to cost 0.51 paisa per minute has gone down to 0.03. Data cost for 1 GB has gone from ₹287 to ₹9. The change has been monumental. That said, we are on the cusp of a new revolution. India, which was a follower in 3G, was marching along in 4G and 5G, and today has the ability to lead the world in 6G.In terms of my own agenda, I have five or six pillars.First is the 4G saturation across the country. We have still got close to about 20,000-22,000 towers that need to be set up across the balance 1,000 villages in India. The towers are to be set up across TSPs (telecom service providers), private sector as well as BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam.). That is something I am monitoring on a daily basis.The second is the 4G stack rollout for BSNL.

What is remarkable is that India is the third or fourth country in the world to have its own 4G technology, which means our own core, radio access network as well as our data centres. It's important that the rollout happens as effectively. We are planning to roll out about 100,000 BTS (base transceiver station) by mid next year. We have done about 22,500 so far. It will be a huge leap for India, not only in terms of manufacturing technology but it will also create a reservoir of foreign exchange because we no longer have to import that technology.

The third is to look at the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom equipment manufacturing, which is successful. We have got Rs 4,000 crore of capex, almost Rs 50,000 crore of production, Rs 10,000 crore worth of exports. And to push that forward, we are looking at design elements to that PLI scheme and increasing incentive for design.The fourth is to look at quality of service (QoS) and the whole issue of the customer side, which is paramount because this ministry is a consumer-facing ministry. We have to make sure that your quality of services is excellent across TSPs, to make sure the issue of your spam calls/fraud calls is minimised. Fifth is to increase R&D in telecom. We are looking at 5G labs, promoting new startups etc. We have to make sure that indigenous manufacturing of equipment also happens.

What is the update around the Telecommunications Act and its various rules?
We have notified the Act in June, so we have a 180-day timeline to come out with 23 sections and 35 rules.

Are OTT (over-the-top) players included in the broad definition of telecommunications in the new telecom Act?
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is looking at that and I don't think it's right of me to comment at this point of time.

The telecom operators are pushing to bring OTTs under the definition of telecommunications and demanding a fair-share in OTT revenue. How do you see it?
It's part of the issues taken up by the advisory groups, so let them (telcos) bring it up with me when we discuss it. I have set up 6 advisory groups, and the stakeholders have defined the agenda.

The government is now the largest shareholder in Vodafone Idea. Is the worst over for the telco?
Vodafone Idea is managed by a professional team. I do not want to venture into how the management is doing or what the results are. I am only concerned as the minister of telecom that I must have multiple players in my market. I have four players in my market. All of them have a healthy market share and I must make sure that all four players are robust, to give customers a choice. For me, having a level playing field with multiple players is a priority. At the end of the day, I must make sure that my customers are served right, both from a price point of view, where today we are the cheapest in the world, and from a quality point of view. That is my mandate.

Is there a timeline for the government to hold its stake in Vodafone Idea?
There is no timeline.

The instances of spam calls are rampant and there is a feeling the authorities are always two steps behind in tackling the menace. What is your take on the issue?
You must understand, with technology comes huge dividends, but there are always people who will use technology to further their ends and I am purposefully not using the word misuse. In the case of fraud, it is misused. The regulator has come down very hard to tackle the issue. Almost 1.8 million phones have been disconnected in the last 3-4 months. I am very clear that I cannot have any customer, who's not willing to be a receiver of such calls, receiving such calls.

The government seems to be silent on BharatNet...
We have amended the BharatNet project with an outlay of ₹1.39 lakh crore, which will complete those gram panchayats which were not part of BharatNet 1 and BharatNet 2. The first two phases have covered 220,000 gram panchayats, and the balance 40,000 panchayats will be covered in the amended project.