Nothing to worry, the sector has ups and downs in the past too: Telecom Minister

Clearing his stand on the current situation of the telecom sector, communication minister Manoj Sinha said on Friday that profits are not declining the first time, it happened in past also and industry will come out of the situation.

There is nothing to worry. The sector has seen ups and downs, it happened in 2000 and there was a similar situation," Sinha said.

He said, "We have a huge subscriber base... the way the data requirements are expanding, I am sure that in coming days, the financial health... the telecom service providers will recover... and, if needed, the government will certainly intervene at the right stage."

Meanwhile, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed among BBNL, Department of Posts and BSNL for providing broadband connectivity of BharatNet to Post Offices in rural areas.

Samsung regains its position beats Apple, Huawei: IDC

The MoU signed under the chairmanship of telecom minister Manoj Sinha is the first tri-partite agreement to provide broadband connectivity to about 1.3 lakh, post offices in rural areas and 25,000 sub-post offices for high-speed internet connectivity to the rural masses.

Speaking on the occasion, Sinha said that the first phase of connecting about one lakh Gram Panchayats is nearing its completion and in the remaining one and a half lakh Gram Panchayats 100 Mbps broadband connectivity will be completed by December 2018. In reply to a question, the Minister said that BharatNet is one of the 9 pillars of realizing the Prime Minister's vision of Digital India.

Sinha added that provision of citizen services is the focus of BharatNet and in the agreement signed today, BSNL is the service provider, that would provide broadband services, the cost of setting up of infrastructure and the operational expenses would be paid by the Department of Posts. Since the BharatNet is the National Network, BBNL would facilitate and coordinate this entire operation. In future, MoUs with other Government Departments is also proposed to be signed.