World Dialogue on Regulation

"We have visualised that by 2007 the country will have 250 million telephones and the teledensity will be about 22%. By then the entire country shall be carpeted by telecom network and all the villages connected by phone," Maran said.

Maran said the number of Internet connections is expected to more than triple to 18 million from 5.45 million over the same period. In addition, about 180-200 million of the phones would be mobiles, he added.

India opened its telecom sector to private operators in the late 1990s, attracting both global and domestic providers who have increased the number of subscribers to 100 million. Maran noted that close to 50% of subscribers are mobile subscribers, largely due to tariff reductions brought about through competition and government incentives. T

he minister, who launched a low cost mobile handset priced at 1,500 rupees (US$ 35), said the government was planning to unveil new technologies to expand access to education and medical services to remote areas.

"With the increasing competition, we expect that the tariff rates will fall further," he said.

Tariffs have already fallen to only 20% of the charges levied five years ago. Pricewaterhouse Coopers notes that private mobile operators are starting to become profitable after struggling for several years to break even.

"Mobile telephony has a positive and significant impact on economic growth, and this impact may be twice as large in developing countries. An increase of 10 mobile phones per 100 people boosts GDP by 0.6%," the minister said.

Source: Agence France-Presse