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India has crossed 10 crore (100 million) mark in terms of number of phones today. This was stated by Shri Dayanidhi Maran, Minister of Communications & Information Technology, in a Press Conference here today. He further said that in terms of number of phones, India has become the fifth largest network in the world after China, USA, Japan and Germany. The potential to expand telecom network in India is immense as its tele-density is only about 9% as against more than 100% in all the above-mentioned countries except China (55%). The demand has already saturated in the developed countries, and India is bound to surpass them within next 4-5 years, he added.
Shri Maran stated that this achievement is a result of several policy initiatives taken by the Government. The new Government has taken many pro-active measures to contribute to the expansion and growth of the telecom network. As a result of initiatives of the Government to encourage the manufacturing in the Telecom sector, tie-ups between Alcatel and ITI for their Rae Bareilly and Mankapur plants, agreement between Alcatel and C-DOT for setting up of a global research centre for Wi-Max Technology in Chennai have been finalised. Similarly, for manufacturing mobile equipments, Ericsson has upgraded their plant at Jaipur, Elcoteq has set up a plant in Bangalore. Nokia and LG have announced their intention to set up their plants in Chennai and Pune respectively. These are very positive signals for making India self-reliant in the field of telecom equipments.
Number of Telephones (Fixed Lines, WLL and Cellular) and Telephone Density
Year ended
31st March
Population
Fixed Lines*
Cellular Mobile Telephones
Private Basic
Operators *
Total Phones
Number of
Telephones(Fixed+ Cellular Mobile Tel.) per 100 population
------- Million ------
1948
347.9
0.08
--
--
0.08
0.02%
1951
361.1
0.10
--
--
0.10
0.03%
1961
439.2
0.33
--
--
0.33
0.08%
1971
548.3
0.98
--
--
0.98
0.18%
1981
683.2
2.15
--
--
2.15
0.31%
1991
846.3
5.07
--
--
5.07
0.60%
1992
863.2
5.81
--
--
5.81
0.67%
1993
880.4
6.80
--
--
6.80
0.77%
1994
898.0
8.03
--
--
8.03
0.89%
1995
915.9
9.80
--
--
9.80
1.07%
1996
934.2
11.98
--
--
11.98
1.28%
1997
949.4
14.54
0.34
--
14.88
1.57%
1998
964.7
17.80
0.88
--
18.68
1.94%
1999
980.4
21.59
1.20
0.02
22.81
2.33%
2000
996.9
26.51
1.88
0.14
28.53
2.86%
2001
1027.0
32.44
3.58
0.27
36.29
3.53%
2002
1048.6
37.94
6.43
0.59
44.96
4.29%
2003
1069.0
40.62
12.69
1.31
54.62
5.11%
2004
1081.3
40.87
26.15
9.52
76.54
7.08%
Apr. 13,2005
@
1098.6
41.49
41.46
17.32
100.27
9.13%
Source: 1.Population Census of India,1991.,Population Projection for India & States-1996-2016, O/o RGI. For 1951,
1961 & 1971 India: Towards Population and Development goals U N Population Fund (UNFPA), 1997.
2.Draft Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002); 3. MIS- BSNL * DELs=Fixed+WLL
2.Draft Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002); 3. MIS- BSNL
* DELs=Fixed+WLL
@ estimated
Giving his vision for the telecom sector, Shri Maran said that by 2007, the country will have 250 million telephones and the tele-density will be about 22%. By that time the entire country shall be carpeted by telecom network and all the villages shall be connected by phone. The Internet connections shall increase from 5.45 million in December, 2004 to 18 million by 2007. By this time, broadband connections are targeted to be 9 million. To enable faster expansion of wireless telephony, and other services, the required spectrum shall be made available to the operators. With the increasing competition, we expect that the tariff rates will fall further benefiting the consumers at large.
Out of the 6,07,491 villages in the country, 5,28,987 villages have been provided with VPTs as on February 28, 2004. Most of these have been provided by BSNL. The number of rural DELs in the country as on February, 2005 was 132.5 lakh and all these have also been provided by BSNL. It is expected that the pace would considerably accelerate with the implementation of non-lapsable Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). So far, Rs.1841.50 crore have been made available to the operators for rural telephony of which Rs.1341.50 crore have been provided during 2004-05. For the year 2005-06, a provision of Rs.1200 crore has been made available for USO support. Recent steps taken for rural telephony under USO Fund are given below:
· Replacement of 1.84 lakh Multi Access Radio Relay (MARR)-based VPTs, of which 1.15 lakh VPTs have already been replaced and the remaining shall be replaced by the middle of 2006.
· Agreements have been signed for installation of 66,822 VPTs in the remaining uncovered villages. About 1500 of these villages have been provided VPTs so far.
· Agreements for a second public phone (RCPs) in 46,253 villages have been signed on 30.09.2004. 1917 of these have been installed.
· Agreements have been signed for the Rural DELs to be installed between 01.04.2005 to 31.03.2007 in 1685 net cost positive SDCAs.
· Agreements for RDELs installed between 01.04.2002 to 31.03.2005 have also been finalized.
· For the Public Tele Information Centres (PTICs) and High Speed PTICs, agreements are expected to be finalized in 2005-2006.
Pursuant to the Broadband Policy announced in October, 2004, it is expected that the number of broadband subscribers would be 3 million by 2005, 9 million by 2007 and 20 million by 2010. During the current year (2005-06), BSNL and MTNL have planned to provide 12.32 lakh and 5.5 lakh broadband connections respectively.
On the Spectrum Policy, Shri Maran told the Government has adopted a technology-neutral policy in the telecom sector. The Government policies on spectrum allocation are a major factor, which will shape the future of the telecom industry. Although the allotment of spectrum is being managed in an objective and transparent manner, the service providers and other wireless users along with the manufacturers need to play more constructive and disciplined role in the spirit of mutual understanding and co-operation. Efforts are also on to get the spectrum required for public telecom services by its release from other existing users. A World Bank Project is being implemented for spectrum management and for augmenting the wireless monitoring systems with an outlay of Rs.200 crore, he said.
Shri Maran further said that for R & D, C-DOT is a premier organization. C-DOT has focused its programmes into three major areas, viz:
- Rural Broadband and Wireless solutions.
- Projects of strategic importance and future technologies including
IP and Packet Networks.
- Commercial software intensive projects.
C-DOT is also working with national and international strategic partners to reduce time to develop and exploit both national and international markets. These include Alcatel, Vanu Software Radio (USA), Canadian Research Centre, etc. for wireless and fibre optic technologies.
RM/AMA- 120405 Press Conference
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