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Govt hopeful on telecom talks
Thomas K Thomas in New Delhi |
March 13, 2003 13:38 IST
With the talks between cellular service and basic operators on the verge of a breakdown, the government has appealed that the operators need to work out a solution that is acceptable to all.
Senior government officials said there was still hope and it was only a matter of defining wireless in local loop limited mobility in a way that met everybody's expectations.
Speaking at the sidelines of Convergence India 2003, Vinod Vaish, secretary, department of telecommunications said, "Despite what the industry is saying about the ongoing talks, I am still hopeful that some solution will be found at the end of it."
The telecom industry panel is slated to meet tomorrow, however, the talks are going nowhere because there are huge differences between the two sides.
"Despite several rounds of meeting there seems to be no common ground. Tomorrow's meeting may be the last one."
Vaish however said that the operators need to meet a couple of times more before calling it off. "We will have to discuss the issue a number of times before arriving at conclusions."
Vaish however said that use of terms like 'mobile' and 'roaming' by WLL operators was creating confusion among the consumers as these are terms normally associated with a cellular service.
Meanwhile the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said that it will not give any decision on the issue of allowing roaming and SMS services to WLL operators until the discussions are over.
"I do not want to give a decision that would affect the ongoing discussions," M S Verma, chairman, Trai said.
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