E.P: What is the vision of BSNL?

AKG: The vision is very clear that we want to be the best and number one telephonic service provider.

E.P: Are you not the number one?

AKG.: Not in mobile as of now one of the other provider is slightly ahead of us and our next goal is to provide high quality service . And at the moment I understand that quality of service is not up to the mark and there are various reasons for this like physical location.

E.P: If we look at infrastructure, BSNL has one of the best?

AKG:  Not exactly. Actually in mobiles we started two years late. Reliance was the first so they had an advantage and a lead of two years. We are the oldest telecom provider which gives us certain advantages and certain disadvantages also. The network is quite old and all these new operators may set up totally new networks which may not be the best but it is the latest technology. At the same time we have our old staff with us and we have the responsibility to take care of them. Private players have the minimum staff and basically everything is outsourced.

E.P: From what you said do you feel that the old staff is a hindrance?

AKG: They are not a hindrance but you can’t expect the same development. Second is the mindset. Because most of their lifetime was spent under the mono phone set. There they were the boss. You must be knowing what the importance of an operator was once upon a time and what was the importance of all the phone mechanics. These people were the most sought after persons and they were used to a certain type of treatment from the public but now the situation has changed; nowadays the public cannot treat any telecom operator like that. Now the public is the boss and not the other way round. We are trying to change the mindset and they also understand very well that best performance is the only means of survival.

EP:  Also you said regarding social obligation. There is a board in front of your chamber stating that 99% of the population is covered by BSNL. But this is about the borders. As you know Bangaldesh Gramin Sewa mobile services works in the borders. So what is happening is that people around the border are using it and becoming closer to Bangaldesh then to Indian itself because of lack of communication. If they can have this service why can’t we have it?

AKG: Certainly, I totally agree with you. But somehow our security agencies think that allowing them to operate in our area is better and a more secure proposition then us operating in that area.

E.P:  Are we not alienating our own people that way?

AKG: Certainly, that is exactly how I feel. It is going against the security aspect. You know that one of the greatest things about mobiles is that monitoring of calls is very easy.  You can also determine the physical location of a person. You can locate the person and narrow down his position to an approximate distance of 1 to 10 meters. So if we allow them to use our service we will not only be able to monitor their talk but also locate their positions. Now the opposite is happening. They are able to monitor us. There should be an open discussion between the security agencies and the telecom agencies and other users. Are we the losers or the gainers? In my opinion we are the losers, the country is the looser. You must be knowing that around ten or fifteen years back Doordarshan faced the same situation. We were not operating near the border and our neighbours were pumping their programs into our area. Our people were listening to their programs and their mindset was getting changed. After the war, we woke up and we started establishing the high power transmitters and others. After all loss has been incurred then some brilliant people will wake up and do something. This is my personal opinion and as a government official I cannot oppose or contradict the law. There could actually be some reasons behind this which we perhaps may not know about.

E.P: BSNL has better service in rural areas but are there any rules and regulations regarding transmitters?

AKG: We follow the norms and requirements.

E.P:  Requirements meaning commercial requirements?

AKG: Basically commercially. We have to provide uniform coverage. So wherever minimum coverage has been provided we put up a tower. When traffic increases we increase the specification of the tower. In urban areas were the population concentration is more we provide more stations.

E.P : Don’t the waves emitted by these towers have an adverse effect on the environment?

AKG: Actually there are many types of news report in the papers but these have not been technically proven by anybody. But we keep on reading news reports every now and then. Some say that it is harmful and after five days in Germany they say it is not harmful. I feel it is better to be on the safe side. If they are not harmful all is well and good but if, after five years it is actually harmful, then the harm has already been done. So it is better to have restricted use. What I mean is that I would advise the moderate use of everything, not only mobiles. People should not only talk more but read more and play more. Of course this is against our commercial interest but as a socially conscious person, I should say this.

E.P: How are you planning to revive the land lines because they are basically dying out because of mobile phones?

AKG: There are some very inherent advantages of landlines. First of all the quality and clarity is best in landlines. Rent is also very low. What we are trying to do in rural areas is that we are trying to make the landlines reliable. Telephone will be almost free. This is for the rural areas. As for the urban areas, broadband is coming into play and for this you need a landline connection. Of course broadband has no direct relation but it works exclusively through a landline which is its physical carrier and slowly but surely the popularity of broadband is increasing. Broadband is available for mobiles also but the quality is still better in landlines. We are working more and more towards value added services for landline which are not possible on mobiles. So landline is a very important source for us.

E.P: Once upon a time radios were on the brink of becoming obsolete but now they are back again, so are you planning something similar for telephones?

AKG: Certainly, combined charges for IPTV + broadband + telephone will be much cheaper than availing these services individually.

E.P: When is it expected to be launched?

AKG: When it comes to IPTV, we are ready to start but the challenge will be in providing the content. In some cities such as Kolkata it is already available; it is a new technology so it has got a few problems. Telephones lines are always under the risk of being cut. When the telephone, broadband and cable wire is cut the customer will come gunning for the provider. TV is a very important thing. People cannot afford to miss even 5 minutes. So we are trying to improve the landline network by using pole maps and each house will be treated as a separate entity.

The biggest constraint for us is the cutting of our OFC (optical fibre cable). Everywhere all over the country, the widening of roads is going on and we being the old operator we have laid our cables as early as ten years back. Now all that cable is almost coming in the middle of the road. Now with the expansion of the road the cable gets cut. Every single lane is being converted to double lane, so this cable cutting is never going to stop. I will tell you the solution to this problem. When one of the service providers first came to the North east, they did a brilliant thing. They did not opt for fiber cables, they simply went for microwaves. This has advantages and disadvantages. It is not susceptible to interruptions but has limited bandwidth. OFC has a very high bandwidth. This road widening work could not be imagined the way it is happening now. The construction of roads cannot be stopped because of us. The only solution is construction of ducts. Wherever they construct roads they should construct ducts. This is practiced all over the world. I have talked with the government agencies, road constructing agencies and the NEC. So what we are suggesting is that wherever they are constructing roads we will supply them with free pipes and they can install them. This way the additional labour cost is very low.

E.P: After GPRS what is next immediate new technology?

AKG:  In 3G is totally the next generation. You will get all features that are not presently there. It is really very high speed. 3G itself  everything is incorporated and all the features that are not being provided will be there. Now instruments offer more but the services are not there to provide for all those facilities. The network does not support it.

E.P: How early will there be a solution to the old problems? Like the solution for the border areas?

AKG: I think all political parties are pushing it. We are all facing the problems of Bangladeshis. The Meghalaya government is pushing, the Tripura government is pushing. Infact the government officials are using the sim cards from Bangladesh. Earlier the restriction was up to 10kms but now it is upto 500meters. This was an achievement.

E.P: But these sim cards are still being used?

AKG: Obviously, because for 500meters there has to be something.  I think in Tripura a huge portion of the population is living right on the border.

E.P: Is there a potential for revenue generation through this?

AKG: When security is the concern we cannot talk about revenue.

E.P:  Are we not loosing security?

AKG: I think we are. This is my personal opinion. There may be some inherent reason for this which we may not know about in terms of security. Mine is a general person’s view.

E.P: Now that Tata Indicom and Vodafone are also coming to the North East, will it not be tough for BSNL?

AKG: Certainly, our quality of service and public interface has to be better. It is not that we don’t want Tata Indicom or Vodafone to come. I think competition always improves the quality. So that way the public is the winner. Anybody having apprehensions of survival in the department without working might need to think again.

E.P: What happens when privatization takes place?

AKG: It will happen to all the departments including the railways and others. Government should govern. This is again my personal opinion. All services going private is a natural process. I am not saying it should happen immediately but in my opinion it is better. It depends on government policies.

E.P: There is a talk around that one of the major telecom service providers is interested in BSNL?

AKG: Everyone is interested. It is a milking cow. But we are returning a lot of profit to the government. So the government should not dispose of us instead the sick units should come first. This is totally a policy issue.