Dr T.H.Chowdary
The move of the DOT to forge a nodal firm for the supply installation and maintenance of telecom network equipments for all the twenty and odd Telcos in the country is wrong and will be a disaster. When the famous AT&T of the USA was broken up in 1984 into seven Regional BELL Operation companies (RBOCs), these companies brought into being a severally owned company TELCORDIA in order to give them the R&D services and solutions to operational problems. The network would encounter problems & upgradations would be necessary for introduction of new facilities and services. For the monopoly AT&T, its captive, the Bell Labs was the R&D arm fulfilling the need. Telcordia was to meet that need for the RBOCs. Very soon, the competing companies found that the common resource was not in their individual interest and they would better undertake their own R&D or source it to different organisations of their choice. Over a period, the seven RBOCs consolidated themselves into three dominant ones. History everywhere shows that in any mass market, about 80% of the market will be held by 3 or 4 companies and the rest of the 20% by as many as 20 or more. This is bound to happen in India also. There is no way in which a circle or state can sustain 12 to 15 fiercely competing Telcos and every one of them can be financially viable. Already, there are moves for consolidation and acquisition of foreign partners by sale of their equity at fantastic prices. Eg : Videocon Telecom, Unitech and so on.