Telecom connectivity to bridge rural-urban divide: PM - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday said that all the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in the country will be provided high speed broadband connectivity by 2012 to remove asymmetry of information and opportunities to the rural population. The Prime Minister was speaking at the closing ceremony of "India Telecom- 2009" in the national capital. Assuring the auction of 3G spectrum, Singh said that this spectrum will be allocated at a market determined price rather than an administered one. While, lauding the setting up of seven telecom centers of excellence by DOT in public private partnership mode, he said that sustained competitiveness requires a strong research and development efforts. The Prime Minister also expressing concern on the slow growth of the telecom manufacturing sector, and called for using various fiscal incentives provided by the Government to attract potential investors. The Prime Minister said, "The telecommunications sector in India has seen rapid progress being made over more than a decade now. This is exemplified by the achievement last week of the figure of 500 million mobile subscribers. We are today the fastest growing telecom market in the world, with the addition of over 12 million subscribers every month in the last year, of which five million were from rural areas," he added. The Prime Minister further said that the achievements are all the more remarkable as they have come at the time of a global economic slowdown. "Now that the slowdown is showing signs of moderating, we can hope and aspire for even faster growth of telecommunication sector in our country," Dr. Singh said. He further said that the importance of the flow of information in for a fast modernizing economy cannot be over-emphasized. "A strong telecommunications sector promotes social well being and facilitates rapid economic development. It is therefore a matter of great satisfaction to us that our telecom tariffs are among the lowest in the world. This, I believe, has been possible due to our regulatory regime which has encouraged competition, and also due to the innovation and enterprise of our private sector," Dr. Singh said. "But, while celebrating the growth and substantial achievements of the telecom sector in India, it is important for all of us to be conscious of the large digital divide that still exists in our country. Indeed, this division between urban and rural India is still growing," he added. Speaking on the occasion, Union Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said that telecom sector is recognized as one of the major drivers of the growth of Indian economy as it is contributing about 5.6 per cent in GDP. "Indian economy registered 11per cent rise in FDI, despite the global recession and liquidity crunch," he added. The Minister further said that it also attracted 2558 million dollar FDI in 2008-09 as compared to 1261 million dollar in 2007-08, which is about 10 per cent of the total FDI inflow in the country during 2008-09. Enlisting the achievements of the telecom department, the Minister said that target of 500 million of telephone connections was scaled in September 2009, much ahead of the scheduled time of December 2010.