The government has said that the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector since 2007-08 till August 2010 this year stood at Rs 339.57 billion. The FDI stood at Rs 51.03 billion in 2007-08, Rs 117.27 billion in 2008-09, Rs 123.38 billion in 2009-10 and Rs 47.89 billion in April-August 2010 period.
According to Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Information Technology, the number of BlackBerry connections stood at 103.3 million on September 30, 2010. This is against a user base of 95.9 million users in 2007-08, 130.6 million in 2008-09 and 192.5 million users in 2009-10. In response to another query, Pilot aid a pilot project of a Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) is likely to be started in about three months from the approval by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). CMS is will strengthen the security environment in the country as it will help central and state level law enforcement agencies to intercept and monitor communication.
Asked if the government was taking steps to revive state-owned Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Pilot said that the government has decided to continue the policy of reserving 30 per cent work orders for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for a further period of two years.
Pilot added that the company has also set up joint ventures (JVs) and special purpose vehicles (SPVs)for manufacturing new products like Wi-Max equipment, apart from discharging liabilities to the tune of Rs 28.2 billion from ITI’s balance sheets.
