The Planning Commission has listed a series of policy prescriptions to ensure that rural telephony, broadband and PC penetration take off in India over the next few years.

The Planning Commission has listed a series of policy prescriptions to T ensure that rural telephony, broadband and PC penetration take off in India over the next few years. In its deliberations over the Tenth Five Year Plan, the commission is considering policy that would permit services like IP telephony over public switched networks, and permit the government to directly negotiate favourable prices from international software companies. Fiscal measures are being considered to reduce PC prices to the “psychological benchmark” of Rs 10,000. The long-term goal is to take the internet to 80,000 villages by 2020 so that internet accessibility can be brought to international standards in the long run. The commission has also noted the need for large telecom companies to unbundle the local loop to ensure small players get access to last mile links in rural areas.