Kolkata, Dec 02: The Convergence Bill, 2002, would not be tabled in Parliament before next May as the government would review powers to be delegated to the super regulator for the communications sector as proposed under the bill, according to Union Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan. "We are not in a hurry to place the Convergence Bill. The Parliamentary standing committee has submitted its report and lot of issues have been raised... We will take a decision on these by may next year," the minister said.
Mahajan, who was here last night to inaugurate 'Infocom 2002' Conference and exhibition, said, "The basic issue is whether the super regulator, who will control both the content and carriage of information, is desirable or not".
The Parliamentary standing committee has left it to the government to take a decision on the issue, he said.
"There has been opposition from business houses on delegating too much power to one body."

Asked if there was any possibility of the bill being placed in the winter session of parliament, he said "I don't expect anything to come up before May."

However, the Centre has decided to launch mobile services in seven northeastern states by august 15, 2003, he said.


Since none of the private operators were expected to come up, BSNL would launch its mobile services in the region, he said.

Bureau Report