While unbundling of generation and transmission sectors happened long ago, the distribution sector unbundling has remained a non-starter. Now and then, efforts made for discom privatisation could not gather support because these were in the form of replacement of public monopoly with private monopoly. Access to affordable quality power availability will remain a dream only, until the distribution sector is exposed to competition. Only competition is expected to provide consumers with choice of supplier, affordable and reliable power. All other network businesses, such as telecommunications and DTH, have already been unbundled, and it is high time that the distribution sector is also unbundled separately into distribution (carrier) and supply (content) so that private and public players can compete with each other to bring in efficiency and transparency.
