Wednesday, March 22 2006 12:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Committing himself to continue with the policies of his predecessor Pradeep Baijal, new Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Nripendra Misra today(Mar 22, 2006) said that there were no differences between the regulator and the Department of Telecom.

"There is no fresh look into any policy no question of that, there is always a continuity. We never start from a clean slate. It is a modular approach and we build on that",Mishra told reporters immediately after taking charge of TRAI.

Asked about reports of differences between DoT during his tenure as Secretary and TRAI and if there was a move for removing Baijal as TRAI Chairman, Misra said,"There was no such move and that DoT had not approached the Prime Ministers' Office on any such issue and there were no differences with TRAI when I was in the department and I am sure there were no such differences even after that.

"I can't comment on the opinion of any Member Parliament," he said when reminded about the CPM's demand for action against Baijal on charges of favouring some privateoperator.

On whether the biggest challenge for him would be the handling the Government or telecom operators, he said "None. I would want to complete three year tenure with the same kind of certificate that my predecessor got from the media."

He said that cooperation from all the players private sector, public sector, the government, service providers and the department was very essential for the development of the sector.