By P. Vijian, NNN-Bernama
New Delhi : India has an ambitious plan to connect at least half of its one billion population — from the lively cities to those scattered in the far flung corners of the country — by 2012.
Indian Communications and Information Minister A.Raja said the government aims to have 650 million telephone subscribers by 2012 and to achieve this mammoth goal telecom equipments worth US$84 billion would be needed.
“TEMA (The Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India) has projected an indigenous production of worth RM261.75 billion (US$75 billion). That’s an ambitious target to achieve,” Raja said at the National Conference on India – A Hub for the Telecom Manufacturing and Exports in Delhi.
At present India has 230 million telephone subscribers with seven million subscribers queuing for connections every month.
“We are all set to achieve the target of 250 million well ahead of the year end. Our next target is 500 million connections and 20 million broadband connections by 2010,” he added.
The telecommunication sector has played the catalytic role to India’s economy, whose Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow nine percent.
The Indian telecom revolution is largely led by the consistent and explosive growth of mobile phones and other telecommunication services that are in great demand in the affluent society — dominated by a 300-million strong middle class, larger even than the United States’ population.