By Richa Chakravarty
To celebrate World Telecom Day and to acknowledge the phenomenal achievements of the Indian telecommunications industry, Communication Multimedia and Infrastructure Association of India (CMAI) presented the 5th National Telecom Awards (NTA) in partnership with Star News on May 17 in New Delhi.
Applauding the efforts of entrepreneurs, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, laid emphasis on the need for domestic manufacturing in the telecom sector. He said, “The credit for the achievements of the telecom industry goes to the entrepreneurs. However, we should now dedicate ourselves to the manufacturing sector. Also, the government and the private sector should work on the public-private partnership (PPP) model to attain greater heights.”
Complimenting the telecom industry for becoming one of the success stories of India, Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and Information, informed the gathering that the Telecom Policy 2011 would broadly focus on spectrum allocation, manufacturing of hardware, and on the price and quality of services. “The government is working on formulating policies to ensure spectrum allocation at a reasonable price. Also, manufacturing needs a push and we must create job opportunities,” he said.
Besides the ministers, the awards were given away by VN Dhoot, chairman, CMAI; Dr JS Sarma, chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India; Ravi Sharma, executive chairman, CMAI; Ajjay Agarwal, director, CMAI and NK Goyal, president, CMAI.
NK Goyal introduced the jury and a short film was screened on the judging process before the commencement of the award function. The logo of the 6th National Telecom Awards was also unveiled.
The awards felicitated the best telecom professionals, services, companies, and service operators, apart from R&D efforts and innovations in the domain. Some of the awardees were BSNL, for becoming the ‘largest broadband operator’; HCL Infosystems, for the ‘best telecom support services company’; Aircel, for ‘value added service innovation’; Bharti Airtel, for ‘innovative broadband service provider’; Wipro, for ‘excellence in infrastructure for application services’; Ericsson India for the ‘largest telecom equipment manufacturer’; United Telecoms, for ‘excellence in R&D in manufacturing’; Micromax Informatics for the ‘largest Indian mobile phone brand’; and Lava, for the ‘fastest growing Indian mobile phone brand’, apart from other winners.
