Loud buzz

New Delhi, Feb. 27: India, which is among the fastest growing telecom markets in the world, may see telecom connections triple to 650 million from 196 million in the next five years.

“Supportive government policies, impressive progress in information technology and fast addition stock of telephone connections — especially mobiles — played a key role in the growth,” said the Economic Survey, explaining the unprecedented buoyancy in the telecom sector.

The survey also envisioned providing 2 million rural telephony connections to boost tele-density in the villages to 25 per cent from 1.7 per cent.

It also called for broadband connectivity without speed limit on demand, with connections provided to schools, health centres and panchayats. Public sector telecom firms MTNL and BSNL provide 2 mbps broadband speed.

The survey saw the number of broadband and Internet subscribers reaching 20 million and 40 million respectively by 2010. The number of Internet subscribers grew at 25 per cent, while broadband users grew only to 1.32 million in 2005-06 from 0.18 million.

By 2012, the country is expected to have 650 million telephone connections, with more than 200 million added by the end of this month, the survey said.

According to the survey, the total telephone connections include 66 million wired and 584 million wireless connections. Wireless services have seen a compound annual growth rate of above 90 per cent per annum since 2003.

With India becoming the fastest growing telecom market in the world and tariffs dipping to the lowest, tele-density increased to 16.8 per cent in December from 12.7 per cent in March 2006.

“With five million subscribers added per month, total number of telephones increased to 142.09 million in December 2006,” the survey said.

The survey attributed the rapid network expansion and growth in the telecom sector to foreign direct investment (FDI).