New Delhi, May 17. (PTI): The Department of Telecom would seek opinion from various players including BSNL and MTNL and take a final view on TRAI’s recommendations on accelerating internet and broadband growth in about a month.

Dubbing broadband as a priority area for the country, Telecom Secretary Nripendra Mishra, said “DoT is currently processing the recommendations of TRAI and will also go through the opinion of various stakeholders, and try to reach a conclusion in one month.”

Mishra, who was addressing a BSNL Award Ceremony on the occasion of World Telecom Day, asked BSNL to take a lead in broadband penetration saying the state-owned corporation had all the pre-requisites to become a leader in the segment.

He said that BSNL Chairman and Managing director V P Sinha, had told him that the company would aim at two lakh lines in broadband.

Mishra said that the board of BSNL and MTNL could consider measures to optimise national assets with a sense of fair play, efficiency and commercial considerations.

He said challenges remained in areas such as Quality of Service, high cost of services and digital divide.

Asking the service providers to reach out to rural areas, he said all the players should do their bid in social obligations. Other issues, he said, included infrastructure and billing.

“We should look for a situation where data and voice should give way to integrated level of service,” he said.

He said TRAI’s guidelines on intra-circle merger had not aggressively pushed the merger and acquisition activities in the sector, but added, “it is going to pick up.”

Source: hinduonnet

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