Telecom reforms to be completed, thrust on rural telephony

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) Mr A Raja, the new Communications and IT Minister, today said he will complete the unfinished agenda of telecom reforms, but would also ensure a better deal for 'Bharat' where benefits of low telecom tariffs and deep penetration of rural telephony have not yet reached.

Commending the efforts of his predecessor Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Mr Raja said there was still a huge agenda which needs to be completed, but he would also focus on giving a better deal to rural India.

The telecom revolution can only be sustained if the penetration is now taken to rural areas, which alone can sustain economies of scale and provide the volumes that country of continental size like India requires.

''Telecom sector is on a move and has to reach the lowest strata of people,'' Mr Raja told reporters while addressing a press conference after taking charge of the Ministry.

The event was held at 'Electronics Niketan' where the hall was packed with newspersons eagerly wanting to know what would be the changed profile of the Ministry with the change in guard.

But Mr Raja said he will give a fresh look to Mr Maran's initiative of scrapping roaming charges and will have a meeting in this regard with the officials of his Ministry.

The Minister was of the view that the huge volumes require much larger investments and he will gear his efforts for doing this.

''I will work towards attracting more investments in the telecom sector by other countries.'' ''All the efforts and endeavours of Mr Maran, whether it is roaming charges, 3G mobile services, spectrum allocation, and others will continue. I will endeavour to remove the hurdles in the way of these policy initiaves,'' Mr Raja said.

UNI