INDIA NOW HAS RECORD 500 MILLION TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERS

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- India's telephone subscribers have crossed a
staggering 500 million mark this year, ahead of the 2010 deadline set by the
government to achieve the target.

India's Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said
well-poised polices introduced to restructure the sector had helped to achieve
the growth target at an earlier date.

"We set our target to achieve 500 million subscribers by 2010, but we
crossed the milestone in September 2009. It was stupendous achievement," Raja
said at the curtain-raiser ceremony of the India Telecom 2009 conference.

"But the government is more ambitious to achieve a billion subscribers in
the next few years, a possible figure based on the 12 million Indians
subscribing every month," he said.

The government has not set a specfic timeline for the new target.

The telecommunication sector is India's success story, which is now one of
the main drivers of the Indian economy, unscathed even by the recent economic
slowdown.

India, ruled by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), is bent
on increasing the rural teledensity to 200 million connections by 2010, up from
the current 145 million rural subscribers.

"We want to connect every part of rural India, so the poorest of the poor
can benefit. This will help to bridge the digital divide," said Raja.

Increasing segments of the rural population in India, over 60 per cent of
the one billion people, are beginning to rely more on telecommunication, mainly
for healthcare, e-education and farming, making it the most wanted
infrastructure in the economy.

The India Telecom 2009 conference themed "Telecom for Inclusive Growth" is
scheduled from Dec 3 to 5.
-- BERNAMA