Telecom Commission refers Sam Pitroda committee report on BSNL to DoT panel

The Telecom Commission will set up an internal committee within the Department of Telecom to give its recommendations on implementation of the Sam Pitroda Committee report for improving performance of state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

The committee, to be headed by member (services) of DoT, will take inputs from BSNL, including its employees association and submit its report to the full Telecom Commission within a month, an official release said today.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the full Telecom Commission chaired by Telecom Commission chairman and DoT secretary P J Thomas.

The commission also decided to constitute an inter-ministerial committee under the chairmanship of member (telecom) of the DoT with representatives from all stakeholders as members to examine the issue of imposition of financial penalty for violation of terms and conditions of UAS/CMTS licence agreements.

The government also decided to refer the concerns of telecom operators on recent recommendations of TRAI to an internal committee of the DoT headed by member (technology). The decision was taken at a meeting headed by communications and information technology minister A Raja with the representatives of access service providers, viz, COAI and AUSPI and representatives of their member service providers. The heads of state telecom firms MTNL and BSNL were also present.

The meeting discussed various issues on licences, spectrum, allocation, charging of spectrum and roll-out obligations, merger and acquisitions and other related issues. A final decision will be made after the internal committee finalises its views and refers it to the Telecom Commission.