Cabinet okays Convergence Bill
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the Communication Convergence Bill 2001 to regulate the carriage and licensing of communication services in the country, in the converging sectors of broadcasting, information and telecommunications. An independent authority, the Communication Commission of India (CCI) will be set up for the purpose.

Along with the introduction of the Convergence Bill, five Acts will be repealed, namely, The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, Telegraph Wire Unlawful Possession Act, 1950, Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.

As per the provisions of the new Bill, there will be one expert panel which will oversee all issues of content. This panel would be part of CCI, but would remain independent due to its nature of non-technical functions.

CCI would be an umbrella body to look into licensing, spectrum management, dispute resolution and determination of regulation codes, technical standards, tariffs, rates for licensed services as well as to determine the conditions for fair, equitable and non-discriminatory access to network facility and service.

The Bill, drafted by a group headed by jurist Fali S Nariman, envisages giving licences to all communications services under four broad categories of network facilities or infrastructure, network services, application on any network service and content application service.

Drafted on the lines of the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, it also provides for the creation of an appellate tribunal on the lines of the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal.
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Gas watchdog in the offing
New Delhi: The ministry of petroleum and natural gas is actively pursuing the formulation of a Central Gas Act which will facilitate the setting up of a gas regulatory authority.

This also comes as a countermove to the recently notified Gujarat Gas Act 2001, and is expected to nullify its impact. The petroleum ministry will also ask the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution.

As per the recently notified Gujarat Gas Act, 2001, the Gujarat state would set up the Gujarat Gas Regulatory Authority, which would have the sole authority to regulate the transmission, supply and distribution of gas, including deciding on who would lay the pipelines. Thus, it would be difficult to carry out these operations by any company or entity unless it is approved by the Gujarat state.

The petroleum ministry, prima facie, questions the competence of a state to legislate on a subject such as gas, which is a Union subject.
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Cetma raises brown goods projections
New Delhi: Good monsoons have encouraged Consumer Electronics and Television Manufacturers Association (Cetma) to raise its sales projections for September-December 2001 period for colour televisions, audio systems with VCD and headphone stereos, amongst others.

Cetma, which had earlier projected no growth for CTVs and headphone stereo systems during this period, now says growth would be up five per cent as compared to last year. In audio hi-fi systems with VCD it expects the growth rate to be 55 per cent, revised from an estimated 25 per cent earlier.

According to Cetma, prices of colour television have fallen by around 8 to 10 per cent within this year over last year, of refrigerators by 20 per cent and of washing machines by 10 per cent. The reduction in prices would also add to the offtake.
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FIs begin search for Enron buyers
New Delhi: Indian financial institutions have begun the search for buyers for Enrons stake in the Dabhol Power Project, and have initiated discussions with potential buyers.

Financial institutions have before them the task of preparing a roadmap for Enrons exit and finding a solution to the pending MSEB payments.

Financial institutions will first determine the actual cost required to complete the Dabhol project. Although about 96 per cent of the project is complete, the stoppage of work for the past few weeks and cancellation of contracts could lead to more cost escalation.

Enron has already said it does not want to add more resources, so the new investor will have to pay for the equity as well as find resources to complete the project.

A few leading industrial houses such as Tata Power, Hindujas and others have evinced interest in buying out Enron. Financial institutions will talk to these companies and sell the equity to the highest bidder. An out of court settlement is being sought for the issue, although Enron has invoked legal provisions.

Financial institutions are also seeking a counter guarantee from the Centre for the second phase of the project, just as exists for the first phase, to ensure payments.
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