Phone links cross 100 mn mark

India has crossed the 100-million mark in the number of telephone connections and has become the fifth-largest network in the world after China, the US, Japan and Germany.

"The number of telephone connections in the country now stands at 100.27 million and the teledensity has gone up to 9.13 per cent," Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said today.

According to Maran, the government has set a target of 250 million telephones and a teledensity of 22 per cent by 2007.

Of the additional 150 million telephones to be provided during this period, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)-Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd(MTNL) combine will account for 80 million connections.

The government has also set a target of 18 million Internet connections, 50 per cent of which will be broadband.

Data compiled by the government reveal that of the 100 million telephones in the country, the two PSUs (BSNL and MTNL),have a combined market share of 51.39 per cent. Also, mobile phones account for 53.39 per cent of India's telephones.

"The challenge before the government is to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural areas," Maran said. The rural teledensity is 1.70 per cent against 20.79 per cent in urban areas.

Responding to a query, Maran said access deficit charge (ADC) was a transparent regime and the government was not "in any hurry to abolish it or merge it with the universal service obligation fund. The regime is likely to continue for another 2-3 years."

While the ADC is currently used only for providing fixed terminals in rural areas, Maran said the government was exploring the idea of extending the ADC to mobile services as well.

When asked whether BSNL and MTNL would prefer equipment and telecom infrastructure manufactured in India for expanding their services, he said it was the discretion of the two companies.

"The two PSUs will soon place huge orders for equipment.It is likely that they may insert a clause for a service backup. For this, they may prefer the equipment to be manufactured in India," he said.

Maran also warned operators to refrain from publishing and advertising Internet speeds less than 256 kbps as broadband services. "We will take appropriate action against such operators," he added.