More spectrum for telecom firms; Bill on rural connectivity soon

New Delhi, June 13 (UNI) Union Minister for Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran today said that the government will release additional 45MHz of spectrum from the Defence services by October-November this year.

''We should be able to release 45MHz of spectrum from the defence this year. The faster we do this, the quicker we will be able to reach our target of providing better services to our people,'' Mr Maran told reporters while addressing the GSMA Association press conference announcing GSM's milestone two billion worldwide connections in over two years.

He also said that the government is working on an important initiative for enabling shared infrastructure in rural areas to improve teledensity. The government is working on a bill for shared infrastructure which will be ready by August this year.

On the future growth expected from the rural areas in the field of telecom, Mr Maran said, ''We are targetting 250 million subscribers in 2007, and 500 million subscribers by 2010, out of which a major chunk should come from rural India.'' He further said, rural tele-density in the country is still at around 1.9 per cent. India cannot truly move forward unless we carry with us the 70 per cent of our citizens that reside in rural areas.

Thus, improved rural connectivity is one of the highest priority areas before the Government, he said.

Highlighting India's major contribution to GSMA's two billion users, Mr Maran said, out of the total two billion users, India contributes 4-5 million subscribers every year and the country is taking telephone very seriously.

On a lighter note he quipped, ''The Indian consumer is a tough nut to crack and needs a colour phone that will provide all the features, whether or not he uses them.'' He attributed the present government's policies to the growth and said, ''It was due to these policies that we have the lowest rates of calling, as in India the model is based on volumes and not margins.'' He added that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was presently consulting on the processing of 3G services in India.

''We should learn the best practises in the world as we are depending on 3G (Third Generatin) services for e-governance services as they will reach out to the rural areas and connect the unconnected,'' he said.

UNI RA CS KN1615