12/10/2011
AFSPA may go in parts of Jammu and Kashmir
The controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act
(AFSPA), which gives unlimited powers to security forces to search,
seize and arrest without any warrant in disturbed areas, may soon be
withdrawn from some parts of Jammu & Kashmir.
Telecom policy draft allows free roaming, unrestricted Net telephony
- The Communications and IT Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal,
announced a slew of initiatives for the telecom sector, including free
roaming, unrestricted Net telephony and a new licensing regime for
operators under a draft New Telecom Policy 2011.
- The policy gives specific emphasis to push broadband uptake and increase local manufacturing of telecom equipment.
- The biggest gain would be for those who travel a lot, as roaming
charges are set to be abolished. This means that subscriber will get
free incoming calls and outgoing calls at local tariffs anywhere in the
country.
- Introduction of inter-circle Mobile Number Portability will enable
users to carry their phone number from one State to another. For
example, an Airtel user in Delhi can shift to Vodafone's network in
Chennai and retain the phone number. Currently, MNP is allowed only if
the user wants to change operator in the same circle.
- The other major gain for consumers will be on the proposal to allow
unrestricted Internet Telephony. This will allow subscribers to use the
Internet to make local and STD calls to a fixed or mobile user. Under
the existing rules, consumers are allowed to make only PC-PC calls on
the Internet.
- For the operators, the NTP brings some relief in terms of permitting
them to share and trade spectrum. This will not only open up new
revenue streams but also enable operators to utilise spectrum
efficiently.
- The policy also envisages giving infrastructure status to the sector
which could result in tax breaks for the operators. Mr Sibal said that
he will convince the Finance Ministry to rationalise taxes and levies.
- “The proposals are progressive, which will provide much needed
capacity augmentation to this vital sector. This will help in further
expansion of networks thus realising the Government's vision of
providing connectivity and affordable telecom services to all,” Bharti
Airtel said.
- But operators face loss of revenue due to abolition of roaming
charges in the short term. “The downside due to the removal of roaming
charges will be short term as I expect usage to increase,” said Mr Romal
Shetty, National Head - Telecom, KPMG.
- For new players, the policy talks about an exit route which, on the
one hand, will help beleaguered operators to surrender licences and, on
the other, free up spectrum for those who remain.
- “For us, the Government's intention to bring out an exit policy that
allows non-serious operators to vacate spectrum, provision for spectrum
sharing, and according infrastructure status to telecom are the
highlights,” said Mr Rajiv Bawa, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer,
Uninor.
- Operators can also hope to get airwaves more freely as the policy
envisages about 300 Mhz of 3G spectrum by 2017. Mr Sibal also said that
future spectrum allocations will be based on market linked pricing
mechanism.
-
- The new policy comes at a time when the telecom sector is reeling
under the multiple impact of the 2G spectrum scam, falling revenues for
the operators and the resulting tariff hike.
- The policy is being seen as an attempt by Mr Sibal to give a broad
direction for the sector in a bid to bring it back on track. But the
proposals miss out on key aspects, including 2G spectrum pricing and
detailed mergers and acquisition guidelines.
- “There is a lot of uncertainty in the sector and this policy gives
some sense of the broad direction which the Government wants to take.
- “But how and when the policy will be implemented is important,” said
Mr Prashant Singhal, Telecom Industry Leader, Ernst & Young.
Centre gets Supreme Court notice on drug prices
The Supreme Court wanted to know how serious the Centre was in bringing
essential medicines, used by poor patients to fight ailments like
tuberculosis, diarrhoea, heart diseases and malaria, under ambit of
price control.
The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) has 348 drugs, of which the prices of only 37 medicines are controlled by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority.
that poor patients
were not getting the essential medicines because of spiralling prices.
The bench noted that a 2010 parliamentary standing committee report as
well as a 2005 standing committee report of the ministry of chemicals
and fertilizers had admitted that essential medicines were not available
to the poor at reasonable prices.
In the last two decades,
the number of essential medicines under price control dropped from 347
to 76.
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