Telecommunication

India’s telecom sector has been one of the biggest success stories of market-oriented reforms, and India is now amongst the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. The total number of telephones has increased to 190 million in December 31, 2006.

The announcement of the New Telecom Policy, 1999 was a watershed event in telecommunications in India. Other policy milestones include the opening of the long-distance market in 2002. As a result, telecom tariffs which were among the highest in the world less than four years ago have now dipped among the lowest. The growth of wireless services has been phenomenal, with wireless subscribers growing at a compound annual growth rate of above 90 per cent per annum since 2003.

The total number of telephone has increased from 54.63 million on March 31, 2006 to 189.92 million on December 31, 2006. About five million subscribers are added every month. With this growth, the number of telephones is expected to reach 250 million by the end of 2007. Today the wireless subscribers are not only much more than the fixed subscribers in the country, but also March 2003 to 79 per cent in December, 2006.