Telecom Capacity To Cross 25m Mark

The country's telecom capacity is expected to cross the 25-million mark in 1998-99, marking a 25 per cent jump.

This will take the teledensity _ number of telephones per 100 people _ in the country to a little over two per cent from the current 1.7 per cent.

The advent of service by private basic telecom operators and a 4.1 million target set for both the department of telecommunications (DoT) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) will help the network scale the target, sources feel.

In the Budget 1998-99, the Union government has set DoT a target of 3.57 million lines as fresh switching (or exchange) capacity for the fiscal year and 530,000 lines for MTNL (the basic telecom services provider in Mumbai and Delhi).

This will take the total capacity from 20.7 million to about 24.8 million.

In addition, the networks being set up by private basic telecom operators will help the country cross the 25-million mark.

Three operators are rolling out networks in the circles they are licenced in. Bharti Telenet is inaugurating its network in Madhya Pradesh today (JUNE 04, 1998) and is starting with a capacity of some 50,000.

Similarly, companies like Hughes Ispat in Maharashtra and Tata Teleservices (Andhra Pradesh) have also set ambitious targets for the first year of operations.

The Tata company wants to roll out services on August 15 this year and the Nippon Denro-Hughes joint venture intends to do so before the end of the year.

The number of telephone working lines _ digital exchange lines or DELs, as they are referred to in jargon _ however, will not rise so fast. DELs, mostly varying between 80 and 85 per cent, are expected to rise from the current 17 million to about 20-21.25 million.

In 1997-98, DoT is estimated to have exceeded its physical infrastructure targets.

It ended up the year with some 20.7 million lines switching capacity and about 17 millions working DELs.

It added some 2.95-3 million fresh switching capacity against a target of 2.9 million it set for itself by end-March 1998.

The revenues of the department is projected to have exceeded Rs 17,000 crore in 1997-98 _ nearly a 17 per cent jump over the previous year's turnover.

"We will be able to exceed physcal targets for the year 1997-98 despite an additional Rs 450 crore (expense) outgo due to implementation of the Pay Commission recommendations," a senior DoT official had said in March this year.

The tab on account of an increase in salaries of DoT employees worked out to a massive Rs 900 crore.

This, the finance ministry had directed, would have to be absorbed by DoT leading to fears of the department missing its physical targets by a few lakhs.

However, the waiting list for telephones is estimated to have swelled from the 1996-97 figure of 2.88 million.

Fiscal 1997-98 is estimated to have ended up with more than three million applications on the waiting list, sources predicted.

The latest figures from the telecom circles (mostly analogous to states) is awaited, they said.