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The telecommunication sector has continued to register significant successes during the year and has emerged as one of the key sectors responsible for India's resurgent India's economic growth. The sector, which was growing in the range of 20 to 25 per cent during the year 2002-2003 has moved to a higher growth path of 35 to 40 per cent during the last two years. This rapid growth has been possible due to various proactive and positive decisions of the Government as well as support given to the sector both by the public and the private sector.
During the year the composition of telephones has undergone a significant change. The mobile phones including WLL ( 460.5 lakh) have already overtaken the fixed line phones ( 445.1 lakh) as on November 30,2004 . The number of telephones has increased from 71 million in January 2004 to over 90 millions in November 2004 thereby a registering a growth rate of 32 per cent per annum and teledensity touched at 8.37 per cent from 6.63 per cent in the beginning of the year. Correspondingly, the share of private sector also increased to 45 per cent from 35 per cent in January 2004. During the year, 200.31 lakh phones have been provided of which about 79 per cent (157.74 lakh phones) have been added by the private sector.
To provide a fillip to the rural telephony Universal Service Obligation Fund dispersed a sum of Rs. 200 crore has been dispersed during the year 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. Agreements have been signed for providing 46253 Rural Community Phones in villages with a population of more than 2000. An agreement has also been signed for providing 66822 Village Public Telephones in the remaining eligible revenue villages. With this all revenue villages will now be covered with village public telephones except thinly populated villages and those located in insurgency prone areas.
During the year, the Government has taken several initiatives. To mention a few, Guidelines were issued for Intra -Circle mergers of licences; Broadband policy was announced; performance bank guarantee for internet protocol (IP-II) was reduced from Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 5 crore and the licence fee for this category was reduced from 15 per cent to 6 per cent. The performance bank guarantee in respect of National Long Distance licence was reduced to Rs. 50 crore from Rs. 100 crore. Recently, the Government has also decided to extend the scope of licence conditions of Internet Service Providers, permitting them to provide Virtual Private Network services to corporate and individuals. Recently, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs has also approved a financial package of Rs. 1001 crore for reviving the Indian Telephone Industries Ltd.
The Broadband policy will ensure and 'always on' data connection at a speed of minimum of 256 Kbps capacity for supporting interactive services including Internet access. The main emphasis is on the creation of infrastructure through various technologies that will contribute to the growth to the broadband services in the country. It is estimated that number of broadband subscribers would be three million by 2005, nine million by 2007 and twenty million by 2010. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) have already planned to launch the broadband services by middle of next month. With a view to encourage Broadband connectivity, the indoor use of low power application in 2.4 GHZ band has been de-licensed. The de-licensing for outdoor usage of low power Wi-Fi and Wi-Max applications in 2.4 GHZ band has been agreed in principle.
With a view to curb the illegal call rackets, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has set up Vigilance Telecom Monitoring Cells at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. These cells, besides continuously monitoring the operators to check the Grey market calls will also ensure and the license conditions are fully complied with. To facilitate the general public to give information about the Grey calls, toll free numbers 1600-110-420 or 011-2373-1100 have been set up. With the intensification of surveillance activities the DoT has detected and busted successfully more than 45 cases of illegal exchanges in the various parts of the country this year.
During the year, the telecom sector has witnessed major changes in the tariff structure.. Although there are several tariff plans being implemented by the operators, some of the major tariff reductions in the telecom sector effected by BSNL during the year 2004 ranges from Rs. 7.20 per minute in respect of USA Canada and UK to Rs. 18.00 to the rest of the world except Europe, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong where the charges are Rs. 9.60 per minute.
In the case of National Long Distance Calls the Intra-circle tariff was reduced to Rs.1.20 per minute for calls beyond 100 km radius and inter-circle tariff was reduced to Rs.2.40 per minute for calls beyond 200 km radius. This implies a uniform tariff for intra-circle or inter-circle calls beyond a distance of 50 km. The access rates from BSNL Basic Telephone to Sanchar Net was reduced by 60%. The rentals for ISDN BRA line was also reduced from Rs. 500 to Rs.400 per month and for ISDN PRI from Rs.5000 to Rs.1750. The initial deposit in the case of ISDN PRI was reduced from Rs. 60,000 to Rs.10,000. The registration charges for new telephones for urban subscribers were reduced from Rs. 2000 to Rs.500, w.e.f. December 2004.
During the year, the software and services industry continued to play a dominant role in the overall growth of Indian industry. The total value of software and services export is estimated At Rs. 55,500 crore (US$12.5 billion) in 2003-2004, an increase of 20.4 per cent in rupee terms and 30 per cent in dollar terms over the previous year. This segment will continue to show robust growth in future also. The Indian IT enabled Services - Business Process Outsourcing (ITES-BPO) sector has emerged as a key driver of growth for the Indian software and services industry. The ITES-BPO industry is estimated to have grown by about 54 per cent with export revenue of $ 3.6 billion during 2003-04.
In addition to Broadband policy, it has been decided that high-speed, high capacity (minimum 2 Mbps), reliable network connectivity for Government-to-Government communication will be provided up to the Block level through State Wide Area Network (SWAN). Various e-Governance projects may avail themselves of seamless connectivity using these SWAN and NICNET. The connectivity could be leveraged to provide services electronically to citizens at the village level by extending its reach through wireless and other technologies relevant for the last mile. Various options for facilitating establishment of Common Services Centres (CSC) across the country particularly in rural areas being considered. BSNL has offered a special tariff package to Department Of Information Technology for SWANs with 90 per cent discount. A National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has been set up to ensure that the internet traffic originating and destined for India would be routed within India which is presently is being routed through USA. This will substantially bring down the cost of Internet and reduced international band width requirements.
Further, in order to bring about a substantially increased proliferation of .IN Internet domain name , a new .IN policy was announced , which would come to force from 1st January ,2005 . It aims to put in place a more liberal, efficient and market friendly domain name registration system. Keeping in view the high priority accorded to the promotion and implementation of e-governance on a massive scale by the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the UPA Government , a National e-Governance Action Plan is being formulated to provide impetus and to spread of e-Governance services in far flung areas. All these initiatives, will enable the common man to access Government services in an efficient, convenient and cost effective manner.
During the year under review, India Post completed its 150 years and is celebrating its sesquicentennial year. As part of the celebration, the Department has changed the colour of uniform worn by Postmen and Group "D" staff in the field units. In January, India Post launched e-post service throughout the country to bridge the digital divide. e-Post permits printed or handwritten messages in any language to be transmitted as e-mail and delivered to the addressees from their respective post offices.
The Department of Posts entered into an agreement with the Oriental Insurance Corporation to function as its Corporate Agent for a period of three years w.e.f. 20.1.2004. Under this Agreement the Department will act as Corporate Agent to market identified products of the Oriental Insurance Corporation through Post Offices, accept premia at its counters and remit the same through its network. This step assumes significance as for the first time, India Post will make non-life insurance accessible to the entire rural sector using the unique outreach of the postal network. Likewise, the Department of Posts tied up with UTI Asset Management Company Limited to retail five mutual fund schemes on experimental basis from selective post offices.
During the year 1116 Computerised Customer Care Centres were inter connected throughout the country covering each District Headquarter for speedy flow of information and faster redressal of grievances. Senior Citizen Saving Scheme was also introduced for sale w.e.f. 2nd August at 9% interest rate through Post Offices. In addition, the Election Commission has also engaged the services of the Department in assisting the revision of electoral rolls.
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Source: Press Information Bureau
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