A Raja: Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Sachin Pilot: Minister of State
Gurdas Kamat: Minister of State
A Raja is a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) political party. It is the third term for the 46-year-old Dalit MP from Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. In the earlier government, Dayanidhi Maran was replaced by A Raja as IT minister. He was caught in a controversy over discrepancies in the sale of telecom bandwidth. Issues
BSNL divestment, 3G Wimax auction, mobile number portability are also awaiting government clearance and lowering mobile tariffs.
What he plans to do
The focus will be on starting 3G services at the earliest. "By the end of this year, process for acutioning 3G spectrum (radio frequency) would be completed," he said.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) are the only two operators to offer 3G services in India, while private players are awaiting spectrum to be apportioned.
Raja said he expects local mobile call prices to tumble to 10 paisa a minute (the current average tariff is 60 paisa) and national long distance call prices to 25 paisa a minute (from Re 1 now) much to the disjun of the telecom companies. Telecom companies said that prices cannot fall to such levels under the existing regulation.
He also said that mobile number portability, which would allow users to switch operators without changing numbers, will begin in October.
The minister said focus would also be on IT sector, like taking e-governance to Taluk level.
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