The
telecom industry is one of the prime contributors to India's GDP. The once monopolistic market is today, highly competitive. This has necessitated the growth of
India telecom infrastructure.
From the time of the British Rule, the
Telecom Industry was under the strict supervision of the government. The trend continued even after independence until the late 1990s when the following initiatives were taken up by the government:
- The telecom sector was opened up for private investment as a part of liberalization-privatization-globalization policies.
- On 1st October, 2000 the Government corporatized its operations wing under the name of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
- The criteria for private companies for entering the telecom sector was relaxed.
What followed, was a rapid expansion of the market for mobile phones and allied innovations, hence bringing about a new era in the
telecom sector in India.
India telecom infrastructure – present status
The government of India believes that for rapid economic development backed by social welfare, the
telecom infrastructure in India needs to be uplifted. This necessitates the formulation of a comprehensive
telecom policy that visualizes the future of the
Indian telecom market.
By the beginning of 2007, the
telecom network in India consisted of 48 million
fixed-line connections. Nowadays, a vast majority of the population has access to
telephone services. The highly competitive environment has ensured low pricing of goods and services that caters to the weaker sections of the society. Moreover, the enhancement of
India telecom infrastructure has also widened the scope of the telecom sector to other allied ventures like
mobile services, Internet, cable TV services, E-Commerce, and other forms of
Information Technology (IT).
In terms of long distance calls,
India telecom infrastructure has made remarkable progress. Latest technologies, like use of
fiber-optic cables has enhanced
call-clarity and reduced
call-costs to a large extent.
The present
telecom and mobile-phone service providers in India, apart from
BSNL include
Hutchison Essar, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Idea, Tata Indicom, and a few others.
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