Scindia brainstorms with Ambani, Mittal, others to chart telecom growth roadmap

New Delhi: Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday brainstormed with Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani, Bharti Airtel founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Vodafone Idea MD and CEO Akshaya Moondra to chart growth roadmap for the telecom industry.

This was the first meeting of telecom sector leaders with the minister under the third term of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It was also the first meeting with the telecom chiefs following an increase in mobile tariff in the range of 10-27 per cent.

Scindia during the meeting deliberated on fostering growth of the telecom sector in a collaborative manner while maintaining the interest of consumers and the nation.

"We have identified a rather deep agenda for these committees. Now the members of these committees and we will be working together," Scindia told reporters after the meeting.

Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra and industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General S P Kochhar were also present at the meeting of the advisory committee of telecom service providers.

Scindia said there are varied schedules for the first presentation of these committees that will be over the next couple of weeks.

"Then we will be taking on each individual issue, delving into the details and devising an action plan, timelines and actionable items, so that we can take our sector forward," Scindia said. He said the six committees are the backbone of the Indian communication sector.

"By forging these committees we hope to take the sector forward realising Prime Minister's goal of creating not only a Atmanirbhar (self reliant) Bharat but a telecom superpower within India that we will hopefully transcend our boundaries in days to come," Scindia said.

According to sources, the discussions were held for about half an hour in which the minister indicated that customers' interest should be at the centre of growth of the telecom sector.

"All the three private players supported the minister's vision. Sunil Bharti Mittal lauded the minister's initiative to engage with the industry and the idea of a committee to address issues of each segment of the telecom sector," a source said.

The minister also met representatives of internet service providers and infrastructure committee as well as those of academia and R&D committee. Bharti Airtel MD Gopal Vittal joined the meeting with the academia and R&D committee.

On Monday, Scindia held meetings with three advisory groups on satellite, communications and electronics ecosystem and original equipment makers to prepare a roadmap for achieving self-reliance and global leadership in the sector.

The meetings were attended by Nokia India Country Head Tarun Chhabra, Samsung President and CEO Southwest Asia J B Park, Cisco System India Managing Director Harish Krishnan, STL Managing Director and CEO Ankit Agarwal, Tejas Non-Executive Chairman N G Subramanium, Viasat India Managing Director Gautam Sharma, and Hughes Communications India CEO, President and Managing Director Shivaji Chatterjee, among others.