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(From left) Mr S. Ramakrishnan, MD, Tata Teleservices, Mr Prithipal Singh, CMD, BSNL, Mr Ashim Ghosh, MD, Hutchison, Mr Vinod Vaish, Secretary, DoT, and Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Chairman, BPL Mobile, at the first meeting of the group set up by the Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Arun Shourie, in the Capital on Monday.

NEW DELHI, Feb. 17

THE select group on telecom constituted by the Union Communications Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, to sort out various controversial issues haunting the industry held its first meeting today lasting close to three hours.

The group , which includes representatives of cellular operators, basic operators, BSNL and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). was conspicuous by the absence of Mr Sunil Mittal, Chairman Managing Director, Bharti, and Mr Mukesh Ambani, Chairman Managing Director, Reliance, were conspicuous by their absence.

While Mr Mittal is out of the country on business, Mr Ambani was held up in Mumbai and could not make it. Their places were taken by Mr Ashim Ghosh, Managing Director, Hutchison, and Mr Shaker Adiwal, President, Reliance Infocomm.

Among the others who attended the meeting chaired by the Telecom Secretary, Mr Vinod Vaish, were Mr S. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices, Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Chairman, BPL Cellular, and Mr Prithipal Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Mr Vaish noted that the group had "fruitful" discussions on all the three terms of reference that had been referred to it. This included the "level" playing field between cellular and limited mobility services, the issues concerning restricting the WLL services to within the short distance charging area (SDCA) and the measures need to protect the smaller operators. "Today's main topic of discussion was the roaming being offered by Reliance and whether it constituted substitutability of cellular services," Mr Vaish noted.

Mr Vaish said the group will be meeting again on February 21 to take forward the deliberations.

Meanwhile, the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which heard the petition against "roaming", being offered by Reliance Infocomm, declined to give an interim order against the service since the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is examining the issue.

It has further adjourned the next hearing on the case to February 24, when it is also expected to take up the issue on "legality" of the WLL services.

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