Akash Ambani, Gopal Vittal, Akshaya Moondra Meet Telecom Minister To Discuss Telecom Sector Issues

Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani, Bharti Airtel MD Gopal Vittal and Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra on Tuesday attended a meeting of telecom operators called by Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia. The deliberations focussed on fostering the growth of the telecom sector and resolving key issues along with the timelines.

This is the first meeting of telecom chiefs with the minister after the recent tariff hike. Private telecom operators have raised mobile services rates in the range of 10-27 per cent from July 3.

Scindia has also set up six advisory committees to chart a strategic roadmap for the sector’s growth and take India to a global leadership position.

Scindia met three of the six committees on Monday.

He said that the meeting — held with the three advisory groups on satellite, communications and electronics ecosystem and original equipment makers — was to deep dive into the issues related to satcom (satellite communications), production-linked incentives and telecom equipment.

Scindia said the first meeting with advisory groups has been an exercise in detailed agenda setting.

“These advisory groups have been formed with a very participatory environment where we are all team players towards a common goal…to make India Atmanirbhar, as well as to make India a world leader in the communication space as espoused and envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the minister told reporters.

He said that deep analyses were done related to each of the three verticals to chart their growth roadmap.

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.

The minister said the next meetings with these advisory groups will be scheduled on different dates, where deliberations will take place on the present status of the verticals and where India can be placed in terms of growth and leadership in those sectors.

“If we agree on that plan, then what are the drivers that we need to have in place to be able to deliver on that strategy and from the drivers what are the actionable points both for the ministry as well as for industry to be able to deliver,” Scindia said.