E-com: Prasad promises to address connectivity issues

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday promised that logistics and connectivity problems of the e-commerce companies will be addressed.

The minister, who met Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal here, also said that logistics and connectivity issues affecting e-commerce in the country could be addressed with the launch of high speed 4G mobile services.

Bharti Airtel and Aircel are offering 4G services in select circles. Reliance Jio Infocomm has pan-India licence to offer 4G and is likely to launch the services next year.

E-commerce companies Flipkart and Snapdeal have faced problems of connectivity due to crashes of server due to large number of hits after both firms announced huge discounts on products sold through their portals.

The e-commerce companies have been raising the connectivity issues with the Centre.

Asked about his views on FDI in e-commerce, Bansal said that the government is the best judge to look at the matter.

Speaking about the postal department’s performance, Bansal said, “In the last six months, we have seen a lot of improvement in India Post services and we have started using these more and more.

We hope to see more improvement over time, and also more rollout of 4G, and we are looking forward to that.” Post offices are viewed by some experts as an important link for the growth of e-commerce.

In a bid to reinvigorate the postal department by linking it with booming e-commerce, Prasad has been meeting heads of e-commerce firms.