On December 7, 2011, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh inaugurated India Telecom 2011, the annual international telecom event, at the DRDO Complex in New Delhi. Present at the opening ceremony were Kapil Sibal, minister for communications and IT; Milind Deora, minister of state for communications and IT; Sachin Pilot, minister of state for communications and IT; R. Chandrashekhar, secretary, Department of Telecommunications; and Harsh Mariwala, president, FICCI.
After ?virtually? inaugurating the three-day event at New Delhi?s Pragati Maidan, the prime minister launched the ?India Telecom Report 2011? by FICCI and KPMG. The report identifies key market trends and future growth opportunities, and provides an insight into the market.
Speaking at the event, Dr Singh noted, ?Driven by various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector witnessed a complete transformation in the last decade. It has achieved phenomenal growth during the last few years and is poised to take a big leap in the future also. Telecommunication has emerged as a key driver of social and economic development, and in an increasingly knowledge-intensive global scenario, India needs to play a leadership role. I am confident that the proposed National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2011 will serve as a driver of change in the telecom sector.?
According to him, NTP 2011 will lay special emphasis on providing affordable and quality telecom services to the rural and urban population. There is, therefore, an urgent need to give an impetus to domestic R&D and manufacturing, especially in the wake of the strategic and security needs of the country.
?This will obviate the need for large imports of sensitive items and have a salutary impact on the electronic value chain and create more job opportunities,? he noted.
Dr Singh further assured telecom operators that the government was aware of their concerns and was fully committed to formulating forward-looking policies for sustaining the growth and vitality of the telecom sector.
He also emphasised that NTP 2011 would seek to provide affordable and reliable broadband on demand by 2015, and achieve 175 million broadband connections by 2017 and 600 million by 2020 at a minimum download speed of 2 Mbps.
The National Optical Fibre Network being created, for instance, would provide broadband connectivity to all panchayats in the country. For this, Dr Singh noted that while the government would spend Rs 200 billion for the first phase of the project, a matching amount would be required to be invested by the private sector to provide broadband access services.
Emphasising the theme of the event – m-powering India – Sibal noted, ?In the years to come, mobile value-added services (MVAS) will be the single most important tool for empowering the common man in India. Innovative and value-added services like m-banking, m-education, m-health, m-governance, m-agriculture and location-based services will be delivered to the common man, even in the remotest corners of the country. The Government of India is committed to empowering people through cost-effective, reliable and high-quality telecom services with a strong focus on MVAS.?
Sibal also stated that the large-scale adoption of mobile technology would empower the people and raise their standard of living in all spheres. The areas of opportunity for investment in the telecom sector are in the manufacture of telecom equipment, R&D, green telecom and MVAS.
The India Telecom 2011 exhibition is showcasing service providers, handset and equipment manufacturers, accessory manufacturers, content providers and mobile application providers, among others.
Over 235 companies are participating in the event, which will help them generate awareness about their services and products, and forge new partnerships with potential stakeholders and buyers. Some of the key participants are Aircel, Alphion India, Alvarion, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, C-DOT, Delta Power, Ericsson, Escorts, ITI Limited, MTNL, NEC, Orckit?Corrigent, Philips, Reliance Communications Limited, Selvon Instruments, Shyam Telecom/Vihaan Networks, Siemens Gigaset, Space Telelink, TCIL, Tulip Telecom, Vodafone and ZTE.
The event is also hosting several sessions, conferences and panel discussions on themes such as the socio-economic impact of mobile connectivity, the business case in rural India with new dimensions in m-education and m-governance which will enable citizens to participate in democratic governance, empowering rural growth in the country in line with the theme of India Telecom 2011.
