'Telecom Act makes it clear what can and can't be auctioned'

The government is in a discussion with industry for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the artificial intelligence (AꞮ) space. Similar to the digital payment system, where the government created a platform and others joined in, the plan is to build a system where the compute required for AꞮ can be accessed by all, Union minister for railways, communications, electronics and information technology, ASHWINI VAISHNAW tells Surajeet Das Gupta and Dhruvaksh Saha in an interview

- ASHWINI VAISHNAW

For the first time, the new Telecom Act clarifies on Q&A spectrum assignment. What was the thinking behind this?

The 2G judgment was a seminal one for our social and political life. Now we have built that principle in the law to make auctioning the preferred method for spectrum allocation. Certain areas like defence, aviation (public safety), police, forest and maritime have been expressly defined as those where spectrum cannot be auctioned. And there are some other areas where it is technically not possible to auction. For example, point-to-point back haul between mobile towers uses frequency that can be reused, so it would not be technically or economically possible to design an auction. The case of satellites is the same-the pencil beam can be reused everywhere. The new Act clearly defines what can be auctioned and what cannot, so that there is no legal ambiguity.

You have also made a reference on this issue to the Supreme Court...

The judiciary is very well respected. We went to the SC simultaneously with a miscellaneous application so that all institutions are in harmony.

What is the progress on becoming independent in the railway supply chain?

First, locomotives. Globally, 2,000 locomotives are produced per year, and India stands at 1,000. A large base of manufacturing is in India, through railway production units.

On many parameters, the Vande Bharat would be superior to well-established European brands-on vibration, noise, riding quality, acceleration, etc. So once we have a substantial amount in India, we will look at the export market.

Another segment in rolling stock is wagon manufacturing, in which we are strong. We have Indianised these aspects. In the context of a global value chain, our domestic value addition is significantly large compared to, say, Europe.