Telecom, IT sectors witnessing high growth: Maran

Chennai, Jun 12 (UNI) The Telecom and IT sectors were witnessing unprecedented growth and India was all set to emerge as the second largest telecom market with 500 million subscribers by 2010, Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran said today.

Speaking after inaugurating the Telcordia Research and Development centre here, he said India already had more than 150 million telecom subscribers. It was envisaged that about 250 million telephones would be provided by 2007.

Confident of achieving targets set for 2007 and 2010, Mr Maran said 'we are adding about five million subscribers every month and in the next 19 months, 100 million subscribers will be added.' He said his ministry was now focussing on providing low cost cell phones without compromising on quality. Consumers were very demanding and they no more wanted black and white screens on their mobiles. 'Now they want a bandwith of 512 Kbps,' he added.

Every fourth Indian had his/her cousin in the US and they cross checked with them on the latest developments in the telecom and IT spheres. 'India and the US are having the closest connection.' Mr Maran said Internet Protocol Television sets had hit the US market and it was only a question of time before they were launched in India.

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