RS Sharma appointed as the new TRAI Chairman

Government on Monday appointed IT Secretary R S Sharma as new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Ram Sewak Sharma ... As Chairperson Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for a period of three years," a government order said.

Sharma, a 1978 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, has played key role in implementing Aadhaar project and designing road-map for government's Digital India programme.

He is credited to have designed key digital services, such as digital locker, digitize India and fast execution of schemes to push electronics manufacturing in the country.

The post of TRAI Chairman fell vacant on May 14 after Rahul Khullar retired from the post.

Sharma's appointment comes at a time when there is a debate over net neutrality and TRAI has to give its view on the same to the government.

Besides, he will have to work on improving quality of service by telecom operators across the country to address frequent call drops.