Table 15 – U.S. Telecommunications Associations

Source: Gail's Encyclopedia of Associations

Table 16 - U.S. Telecommunication Firms

Source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Table 16 lists some of the largest corporations currently attempting to enter the Indian market for telecommunication products and services. Top level executives from these enterprises will be key to our efforts. These executives can recruit other companies that have vested interests in opening the Indian telecommunications market. Executives from each identified U.S. telecommunications enterprise should also be encouraged to write to their local and national government representatives in order to bring attention to the issue. (See Annex I & II for charts of the key players and the political landscape.)

Table 17 lists the ten states that produce the most telecommunications equipment. It will be important to target members of Congress from these states.

Table 17 - Telecommunication Production by State

Source: U.S. Industry Profiles

In addition to the President, India’s parliamentary government includes two houses: the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States). Eligible voters directly elect members of the Lok Sabha. State Assembly members elect the members of the Rajya Sabha in accordance with a system of proportional representation.

As in the United States, every bill must be passed by both houses and approved by the President before becoming law. In addition to passing laws, Parliament controls the administration of the country.

Analysis

 

Although the Government of India recognizes the link between advanced telecommunications and development (see India's NTP 94, Annex IV), it still retains state-controlled monopolies over telecommunications networks.

• Military and government officials remain concerned that, in a geopolitical region full of conflicts, liberalization and privatization would threaten national security.

• Government officials, as well as labor, fear that privatization and liberalization would result in unemployment.

• Government treasuries have profited greatly from the state-run telecommunications network.

In addition to these fundamental concerns, India will need to overcome a number of other problems before it is likely to agree to further WTO BAT Reference Paper principles. These include:

• An inadequate understanding of the economic effects of an enhanced telecommunication infrastructure on individual and state welfare;

• Widespread tolerance of corruption from DoT officials;

• The lack of a cohesive national strategy for telecommunications reform;

• A lack of solidarity to achieve a common goal;

Citizen apathy toward active participation in the democratic process.

The following charts identify Cabinet and State Ministers who support telecommunications liberalization.

Table 18 - Indian Officials who Support Reform

 

Cabinet Minister	Portfolio
R.K. Hedge	Minister of Commerce
Sushma Swaraj,	Minister of Information and Broadcasting
Manmohan Singh	Finance Minister
Montek Ahluwalis	Finance Secretary
Naveen Patnaik	Minister of Steel & Mines

 

State Minister	Portfolio
Sukhbir Singh Badal	Industry
Ramesh Bias	Steel & Mines
Bandaru Dattaraya	Urban Development
Mukhar Naqvi	Information & Broadcasting
Ram Naik	Railways
Kabindra Purkayastha	Communications
Vasundhra Raje	External Affairs
Dilip Ray	Coal

Source: http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/MOGIT/LI1116a/policy

All of the Ministers listed in Table 18 support telecommunications reform; they recognize the significant contribution better telecommunications technologies could make to businesses in their respective portfolios.

The Minister of Telecommunications, however, has publicly opposed pro-liberalization economists because he faces pressure from telecommunications labor unions and workers—there are some 400,000 telecommunications workers in India, as well as 18 million sympathetic employees in other public sector enterprises. Fearing for their own jobs, career bureaucrats in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the DoT labor unions also have opposed liberalization.

By identifying opposition groups and informing them of the increased opportunities that await them through expedited telecommunications liberalization, TA can begin a grassroots movement to counteract opposition positions.

To convince government officials in India that liberalization is beneficial to the economy, TA needs to launch educational campaigns aimed at changing the Indian public’s opinion. These strategies are discussed in greater detail in the media and lobbying strategies sections of this project (see India Strategy).

Table 19 - Indian Opposition to Telecommunication Liberalization

 

	Interest Group
Bureaucracy
	Ministry of Communications, DoT
	Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL)
	Mahangar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL)
	Government Employees
	Labor Unions
Private Companies
	M/S Silicon Automation Systems Pvt. Ltd.
	Bhrati Telecommunications
	National Radio & Electronics
	Telephone Cables Ltd.
	Usha Ltd.

Source: Various articles on India (see Bibliography)

Table 20 – Indian Interest Groups that Support Liberalization

 

	Interest Group
Industry
		Steel Authority of India
		Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
		Oil & Gas Commission
		Nationalized Banking System
		Nationalized Coal Mining Sector
		Union Government Railways
		Ministry of Defense
		Indian Airlines
		Indian Railway
		Indian Stock Market
		Hotel Industry
		Indian Space Research Organization
Associations/Interest Groups
		Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
		The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
		Federation of Indian chambers of commerce Industry (FICCI)
		Indian Merchants Chamber
		Indo-American Chamber of Commerce
		Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturer's Association
		Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Assoc.
		Indian Electronics & Telecom Engineers
		Cellular Operators Association of India
		Internet Service Providers Association
		Association of Basic Telecom Operators
		Indian Software Developers Association
Private Companies
		Ramtak Electronics
		HCL Group
		Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd.
		Hindustan Cables Ltd.
Consumers		Doctors, Lawyers, Professionals and other small businesses

Source: Various articles on India (see Bibliography)

Part II

Strategy

In order to push India to expedite its telecommunications liberalization process, TA should secure the domestic support of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and the International Trade Administration (ITA), as well as the House and Senate.

In securing support of the House and Senate, TA should:

• Send a letter from the president of TA (see exhibit) to the House and Senate leadership (as well relevant subcommittees) describing the current situation and the benefits that will come out of U.S. telecommunications investment in India;

• Provide members of Congress, the Senate and their staffs with relevant statistics and data on the U.S. telecommunications industry;

• Testify before the appropriate House and Senate committees and urge them to support our strategy so that the United States can continue to be the industry leader in telecommunications development and deployment (see Exhibit).

• Enlist the support (through attendance in roundtables meetings, etc.) of members of Congress with extensive telecommunication and international relations issue experience. Special attention should be given to W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, Chairman of the House Committee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection.

• Encourage members of the Congress to both support TA’s efforts and pressure other government agencies to do the same.

Securing Support of Other Government Agencies

The USTR, FCC, ITA and NTIA all have the ability to negotiate bilaterally and through multinational fora. Each agency also has a stake in ensuring that foreign markets are open to U.S. products and services. Therefore, it is important for TA and TA's alliance to contact each of these agencies in order to increase their awareness of U.S. companies’ difficulties entering India’s market, as well as to invite action from these agencies.

Congress, TA's member companies, and other telecommunications industry associations all need to be encouraged to push each of these government agencies to address telecommunications issues in India.

TA should contact all U.S. telecommunications industry associations to make them aware of TA’s efforts concerning the Indian market (see Table 15).

Each of these Industry Associations will need to enlist the support of their member companies and encourage them to write personalized letters to members of Congress who represent districts where their companies are headquartered. TA also should encourage these industry associations to organize meetings between top-level company executives and congressional representatives. These policymakers need to be briefed on how the liberalization of India’s telecommunications market will benefit the U.S. economy generally, as well as benefit local economies in which telecommunications companies are situated.

TA should begin contacting each of these universities and think tanks to explore the possibility of them initiating research projects concerning telecommunications trade.

Table 21 - U.S. Universities and Think Tanks

A roundtable should be organized to hear various industry, government and public viewpoints regarding the telecommunication liberalization process in India. Participants will include public and private sector representatives from the U.S., India, and other countries.

Media Objective: The media should be engaged in order to convey to our targeted audiences that TA is concerned about India's minimal commitments to the WTO's Basic Telecommunication Agreement. Specifically, our media objectives are as follows: (1) to address concerns raised by our member telecommunication companies—companies that are frustrated by Indian red-tape that slows investment in telecommunication goods and services; and (2) to ensure that TA’s actions, as reflected in the media, do not negatively affect our bilateral relations with India.

Strategies: In order to achieve our media objectives we need to convey the following points to demonstrate U.S. involvement and concern over current policy in India:

1. The U.S. industry continually monitors and studies the effects of telecommunication liberalization so as to define "best" policy options and help other countries make a smooth transition to competition in their telecommunications markets.
2. The U.S. industry will also establish a monitoring task force to oversee and report on liberalization processes occurring in India.
3. Finally, the U.S. industry will conduct analyses to demonstrate the benefits of India's National Telecommunication Policy of 1994, which aims at "improving India's competitiveness in the global market." Further goals of India's NTP are to bring telecommunications to all and within the reach of all, increase quality of services and place a phone in all rural villages. In order not make the NTP mutually exclusive, India should create an environment conducive to meeting objectives set forth in it's NTP.

Target Audiences: Government agencies, interest groups and associations, international agencies, and domestic and international media, as outlined in the legislative strategy.

Recommendations: Coordinate with USTR, FCC, DOC, interest groups and international agencies to see if we can organize a joint press conference and/or roundtable meeting to discuss the potential consequences:

1. Organize a joint press conference and/or roundtable discussion to discuss the potential these consequences of slow telecommunication market liberalization;
2. Send out press releases and media advisories informing media and interested groups about TA's efforts (giving special attention to telecommunications assignment reporters from each media source);
3. Prepare press statements for TA’s president and press secretary;
4. Invite leading government officials and top industry executives to give statements at press conferences and/or roundtables;
5. Prepare a list of possible questions and answers.

Table 22 and 23 list key media sources. Table 24 lists some of the most well known and respected telecommunication assignment writers in the United States.

Table 22 – U.S. Media

Source: News Media Yellow Book

Table 23 – International Media

Source: News Media Yellow Book

Table 24 – U.S. Telecommunication Assignment Writers

Source: News Media Yellow Book

In India, TA will need to work toward convincing officials that adoption of all the principles set-forth in the WTO Basic Telecommunication Agreement Reference Paper is desirable and essential for the future success of India's economy. This will require support from India’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government as well as from Indian ministers, elected officials, private industry representatives, government employees, and the general public. These groups need to be made aware of the benefits that increased competition will bring to India's economy.

The following message emphasizes the important link between telecommunications, development and international competitiveness. It is a message that should resonate in each of TA's activities in India.

"Telecommunications is the backbone of your future economy. International competitiveness increasingly depends on the development of a telecommunications infrastructure that is compatible with international standards. "

Specifically, TA should launch informational and grassroots campaigns in India, build an Indian Coalition for Accelerated Telecom Liberalization (ICATEL), seek the assistance of an Indian consultant, create a monitoring commission, and implement a legislative strategy and public relations campaign.

To build support for restructuring, Indian officials will need to convince the public of the benefits associated with telecommunication reforms. However, because 60 percent of India's electorate is from the rural, lower castes and only a handful of these voters have heard of telecommunication reform, the informational campaign should present some basic information about the current state of India’s telecommunications infrastructure.

• India’s teledensity is just 1.38 phones per 100 hundred inhabitants (one of the lowest teledensities in the world);

• 2.3 million people are on India’s registered waiting list for phones (it takes two or more years to get a phone in India);

• India has between 200,000 and 300,000 middle-class consumers;

• 97 percent of India's 600,000 villages have no telephone at all;

• The demand for basic telephones lines in India is expected to reach 31 million by 2001, 42 million by the year 2005, and 64 million by 2006, up from the current total of 9 million, and this will require an investment of at least $60 billion by 2006 (at current prices and import duty structures).

These facts should be compared to the development objectives laid out in India's New Telecom Policy of 1999:

• Make available telephone on demand by the year 2002, and sustain it thereafter so as to achieve a national teledensity of seven phones per 100 people by the year 2005 and 15 by the year 2010.

• Encourage the development of telecom infrastructure in rural areas by making rural service mandatory for all fixed service providers.

• Increase rural teledensity from the current level of 0.4 to 4 by the year 2010, and provide reliable transmission media in all rural areas.

• Achieve telecom coverage of all villages in the country and provide reliable media to all exchanges by the year 2002.

• Provide Internet access to all district headquarters by the year 2000.

• Provide high-speed data and multimedia capability (including ISDN) to all towns with a population greater than 200,000 by the year 2002.

The informational campaign should further offer information concerning the benefits of liberalization, as well as the threats new technologies pose to India’s current monopoly system.

1. Benefits:

• Job-creation. Not job-loss. India's fear that competition will trigger significant labor cuts is overblown. A World Bank study concluded that, between 1990 and 1994, employment in markets with varying degrees of competition increased by 20.76 percent. Employment in monopoly markets grew by only 3.13 percent.

• Price, quality, opportunity. Through competition, the price-quality mix of telecommunication services available to consumers will improve. Making telecommunications cheaper will help family relatives keep in touch, facilitate the spread of ideas, and help businesses grow.

• Gains to industry. The software industry, which relies heavily on a sound telecommunications infrastructure, could reap immense rewards if competition is introduced in India. In addition, the stock market, airlines, railways, tourism and service segments of the economy would benefit from new telecommunication technologies.

• Social benefits. Telecommunication technologies could bring education to rural villages. They could also help slow India’s "brain-drain" by strengthening India’s information dependent industries and could facilitate technological innovation in India. In addition, medical applications associated with telecommunications can help to raise health indicators in India, and increased FDI inflows will enable the government to increase social spending on health, water supply and sanitation.

1. Macroeconomic improvement through increased FDI inflows

Estimates indicate that over $60 billion worth of telecommunication investment will be needed to meet India's telecommunications goals for 2006. By allowing the private sector to fill this demand, the Indian government will free itself to focus on other needs like alleviating poverty, increasing literacy levels, reducing infant mortality rates and the like.

2. New technology and its threat to India’s monopoly system

Technological innovation has made it possible for telecommunications competitors to easily circumvent the Indian government’s monopoly controlled telecommunications infrastructure. Innovations such as callback services, Internet phone, low-earth-orbit satellites and global operators all can and will work to erode the market position of DoT, VSNL and MTNL, including their high profit margins. Convergence, which allows interoperability of different networks functioning on different platforms, will increasingly enable new telecommunication services to bypass the current system and will make that system less profitable and less valuable to potential private buyers.

3. Proliferation of Service Industries

Service industries offer well-paid employment opportunities for India’s large university-educated population. Efficient and reliable telecommunications services will be essential to further development of these industries.

In an economy where 30 percent of the population lives in poverty (350 million people), a life time job, like those provided by monopoly providers, is precious. Liberalizing telecommunication companies in India would be perceived as eliminating jobs. Because over 50 percent of DoT's employees are illiterate, the potential for retraining is limited. A strike by the employees of the monopoly providers could bring the country to a halt. And since the reform process might be interpreted as creating more losers than winners (especially pubic sector employees and subsidy recipients), a broad base of support will be required. This can be accomplished through a grassroots strategy coupled with an informational campaign.

In order to build national support for accelerated telecommunications liberalization, it is important to involve all sectors of society. To do so, TA should consider creating the Indian Coalition for Accelerated Telecom Liberalization (ICATL) that includes representatives from:

• Private companies;
• Industry associations;
• Influential/notable/famous people;
• Academia;
• Government ministries
• Local policy- makers;
• School Administrators;

• Judicial Branch;
• Lok Sabha;
• Rajya Sabha;
• The President;
• The Prime Minister;
• Indian Ministries

These interest groups should work together to pressure policy makers to make commitments to all of the BTA Reference Paper principles.

Ministers of railroad, mines, and other industries that depend on an efficient telecommunications system will need to speak out and convince others in the government that liberalization is absolutely necessary.

In addition to officials, ICATEL will need to target and enlist the support of leading industries (railway, airline, hospitality) that depend on advanced telecommunications in order to facilitate business development. Table 20 lists some key industries that are likely to lend their support to a push for expedited telecommunications liberalization.

ICATEL will also need to enlist the support of trade associations and chambers of commerce and industry (FICCI, ASSOCHAM, and CII). Table 20 also lists these associations and interest groups.

TA should also reach out to small business owners and service sector entrepreneurs who would benefit from a more efficient telecommunications infrastructure.

Conferences provide opportunities for leading international political and private industry figures to exchange ideas. TA sponsored conferences might help generate innovative solutions to telecommunication development obstacles.

All these strategies can be made more efficient by employing a national consultant. This consultant would know the intricacies of building a grassroots campaign strategy, would have many contacts in various organizations, and would be able to disseminate information through various channels more cheaply than TA could.

According to the U.S. State Department, the leading telecommunication consulting firm in India is:

Telecommunication Consultants India Limited (TCIL)

Chiranjiv Towers, III Floor

Fax: 91-011-643-5398

TCIL is highly regarded and offers expert knowledge of India’s government, media, interest groups and telecommunications industry.

India should be encouraged to create a commission with authority to investigate the current status of regulatory reform in the telecommunications sector and to help ensure compliance with domestic and international obligations and commitments. This commission could also ensure that the privatization process and related decisions are fair and free of corruption and, once DoT is privatized, ensure that companies are competing fairly and that consumer interests are protected. The commission should be temporary; its mandate should expire three to five years after DoT is privatized and TRAI is fully empowered.

This commission will need:

• Committed political support from both houses, the Prime Minister and President;
• Agents that are reputable;
• The ability to make binding decisions;

• The ability to arbitrate disputes between TRAI and DoT in the early stages of TRAI's evolution.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, will need to be convinced of the need for telecommunications liberalization if TA’s objectives are to be met. Although the NTP acknowledged the importance of the introduction of competition in the telecommunications sector in India, the reform agenda faces growing resistance from both the right and the left—especially since the Asian Financial Crisis. On the Left, labor unions continue to push for a slowdown of privatization, deregulation and liberalization in order to preserve jobs. On the Right, powerful Indian industries are feeling the effects of increased competition and are seeking protection through anti-takeover legislation, a slowdown of tariff reductions, and aggressive antidumpting measures. Both the BJP and Congress have said that they favor protecting Indian businesses for at least five years.

TA can help allay pressures of economic nationalism by:

1. Highlighting for legislators the benefits of competition (as stressed in the Informational Campaign section);
2. Highlighting recent positive economic trends;
3. Relying on Vajpayee's loyalty to WTO obligations;
4. Building consensus on the Left and Right that telecommunication liberalization is essential and beneficial for both sides;
5. Writing "dear colleague" letters to legislators to request support for reforms;
6. Arranging meetings with legislators to personally highlight the importance of reforms;

Media Objective: The media should be engaged in order to convey to our targeted audiences that additional WTO BTA commitments would be beneficial for India's economy and society. Our media objective is to inform as many people as possible about the benefits derived from competition in the telecommunication sector.

Target Audiences: Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, Judicial Branch, Government agencies, interest groups and associations, international agencies as well as domestic and international media, as outlined in the legislative strategy.

Goals:

1. To raise awareness of India's National Telecommunication Policy of 1994, which aims at "improving India's competitiveness in the global market."
2. Denounce bad practices;
3. Monitor and ensure transparency in the reform process;
4. Demand representation from government officials.

1. Coordinate with government agencies, interest groups and international agencies to organize a joint press conference and/or roundtable meeting to discuss consequences of retarded liberalization of telecommunication markets;
2. Organize a press conference to highlight the messages laid out in the Informational Campaign;
3. Send out press releases and media advisories concerning ICATEL’s efforts;
4. Prepare a list of possible questions and answers.

Articles, advertisements, op-ed pieces and other informational campaigns should be placed in various media in India. Table 25 identifies some key media sources that important figures associated with telecommunication policy might read.

Table 25 - Indian Media

Source: News Media Yellow Book