The first two of the eight proposed COEs are being set up by IIM, Ahmedabad in association with Idea Cellular Ltd. on 'Telecom Policy Governance, Regulation and Management, Customer Care and Marketing'; and by IIT, Kharagpur in association with Vodafone Essar on 'Next generation Telecom Networks and Network Technology'.
The two MoUs were signed on October 15 in New Delhi at the curtain raiser ceremony of India Telecom 2007, organised jointly by FICCI and the Department of Telecom (DOT). Prof. Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIM, Ahmedabad and Prof. Damodar Acharya, Director, IIT, Kharagpur were present on the occasion of signing up of the MoUs.
On the occasion, in his address, Union Minister of Communications & IT, Mr. A Raja underlined the need for greater indigenous value addition in India's telecom networks to meet the day-to-day needs of the common man and India-specific requirements. The Minister said the Telecom Center of Excellence in the PPP mode at the topmost academic institutions of the country would go a long way in emboldening the R&D efforts and enhance the much-needed talent pool.
Mr. Raja said the other proposed COEs would be set up in the first half of 2008. "It would be a good idea for these COEs to develop telecom and IT solutions for rural areas at an affordable price," he said.
The function was also addressed by Mr. R. Bandopadhyay, Additional Secretary (T), DoT; Mr. Rajan Bharti Mittal, Senior Executive Committee Member, FICCI & MD, Bharti Enterprises; Mr. Asim Ghosh, MD, Vodafone Essar; Mr Sanjeev Aga, MD, Idea Cellular and Mr. T V Ramachandran, Director General, COAI.
