India Telecom Infrastructure

Overall Rating: star ratingstar ratingstar ratingstar ratingstar rating[5/5]Total Votes [ 1 ]  
Rate this page:
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.

Last updated On: 7th May 2011



>> More about India Budget