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Shri Dayanidhi Maran, Minister of Communications & Information Technology has invited telecom manufacturers world over to look towards India as an attractive destination for establishing their units in India, to make it a hub not only for domestic supplies but also for servicing other countries of the region. Shri Dayanidhi Maran said this while speaking on the theme “Mobile Communication as Driver for Social Development and Economic Growth” at the Third GSM World Congress at Cannes in France today. Shri Maran said though India has allowed 100 per cent FDI in the manufacturing sector, it is has not lead to expected growth. To surpass the target of providing 250 million telephone connections over the next three years, the country has to reduce dependence on imports. He assured the international community that India’s fiscal , taxation , trade policies will be in tune with the expectations of the telecom manufacturers to achieve the objectives.
Speaking about the progress made by India in telecom sector, the Minister said that the country has been keeping in pace with the fast-changing technologies and today ranks among the top 10 telecom networks in the world and the second largest in Asia. We have more than 90 million telephone subscribers with a tele-density of around 8.62 percent. A target of providing 250 million telephone connections by the year 2007 has been set. A target of 3 million broadband subscribers and 6 million Internet subscribers is planned to be achieved by December 2005. India has also joined the exclusive club of those countries , where the cell phones subscribers have outnumbered the fixed line users, in 2004. “It is my dream that the state-of-the-art-technology in telecom and broadband must percolate down to the individuals living in far-flung rural areas of the country ”, Shri Maran said.
Referring to the policy initiatives taken in the telecom sector, Shri Maran said these have led to drastic reduction in tariffs and helped in providing new innovative services of better quality to the users. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in this sector has been encouraging with more than 2 billion dollars already invested in the sector. He recalled the recent decision of the Government of India raising the ceiling of FDI from 49% to 74% in the telecom sector and hoped it will help increase the FDI flow . India has also set up an independent and effective telecom regulator and an Appellate Tribunal to redress the grievances to sort out disputes, in the telecom sector.
Shri Maran also assured the global telecom operators that India will soon come out with a spectrum policy which will be technology-neutral, in tune with the established policy and international practices. Shri Maran said, “We in India, do not commit ourselves to any single technology. Our policy is technology neutral. But it does not mean that we embrace inefficient or discarded technologies.” He further said, “We are also committed to ensure that paucity of spectrum does not throttle the growth of the telecom industry. We therefore foresee, participative growth of all players as well as technologies. A telecom team is already looking into issues relating to spectrum.” Likewise, India is looking forward to introduce 3G services and watching the developments and deployments of 3G networks in other countries , Sh. Maran said.
Speaking about future the of telecom sector in India, Sh Maran said
“ We see vibrant competition ,increased affordability ,enhanced rollout and coverage, higher rural traffic, lower roaming charges , next generation services ,as growth drivers for the future”. He further added that efficiency of spectrum and sharing of infrastructure would also help in overtaking the present inhibitors of low Average Revenue Per Users and higher infrastructure cost. Sh Maran assured that “ India is mature for an explosive growth of mobile telephony with commitment to provide affordable and quality services”.
RM/AMA- 160205 GSM World Congress
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