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CONFLICTS IN CELLULAR SERVICES: IN RURAL INDIA PERSPECTIVE [1]Abstract:New economic policy has taken up the telecommunication services to a new

hight where it has been significant and remarkable contributors in Indian economy. Tariff war among telecommunication service providers makes much affordable service to customers but on the other hand more customers get associated with tacos. This scenario does not justify equally affordable services in rural areas where more than 60% of Indian population lives. On top TRAI controls operability of service providers and has a vision to let avail affordable services uniformly across the country. For the same, the DoT proposes couple of telecom policy like one nation one license, DLinking and pooling of spectrum, exit policy for telecom players on the anvil and creating a telecom finance corporation etc. Since the gap between rural and urban area is significant so it has also vision to introduce additional spectrum of 300MHz to be made available by 2017 and another 200MHz by 2020. Here authors trying to elaborate certain NTPs with the focus on rural areas where huge market is untouched.

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[2]Introduction:As an affordable and accessible means of communication, rural communities are realizing the potential of mobile telephony to create economic opportunities and strengthen social networks. Mobile telephony effectively reduces the "distance" between individuals and institutions, making the sharing of information and knowledge easier and more effective. The mobile telephone is no longer just an audio communication tool but capable of providing additional integrated functions. Yet, mobile telephony, like all technologies, does face limitations and challenges. Mobile phones are the success story of bridging the rural digital divide, bringing tangible economic benefits and acting as agents of social mobilization through improved communication.

The first milestone was observed in Indian Telecommunication industry when private cellular operators came into market. Although the tariffs where very high but elite class felt it as a status symbol. The time was liberalization in India 1991. After 1995 the government set up TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which reduced the interference of Government in deciding tariffs and policy making. The DoT opposed this. In 1999 proreformly better liberalization policies introduced. They split DoT in two- one policy maker and the other service provider (DTS) which was later renamed as BSNL. The proposal of raising the stake of foreign investors from 49% to 74% was rejected by the opposite political party and leftist thinkers. Domestic business groups wanted the government to privatize VSNL. Finally in April 2002, the government decided to cut its stake of 53% to 26% in VSNL and to throw it open for sale to private enterprises. TATA finally took 25% stake in VSNL. This was a gateway to many foreign investors to get entry into the Indian Telecom Markets. After March 2000, the government became more liberal in making policies and issuing licenses to private operators. The government further reduced license fees for cellular service providers and increased the allowable stake to 74% for foreign companies. Because of all these factors, the service fees finally reduced and the call costs were cut greatly enabling every common middle class family in India to afford a cell phone. Nearly 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data reveals the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market. Gradually advancement in technology pulls down the tariff and added up more number of subscribers. Good subscriber density and lower tariff encouraged service providers to introduced quality services.

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Here, Starting from year 1995-96 there was only 0.03 million subscriber, between 1996-97 it was increased by 0.018 million subscriber that is equal to 0.23 million, in 1997-98 it was again increased by 0.56 million subscriber that is again equal to 0.88 million subscriber, between 1998-99 subscriber base was crossed 1.19 million subscriber, between 1999-00 subscriber base was 1.88 million, between 2000-01 it wax crossed 3.58 million subscriber, in 2001-02 subscriber base was 6.54 million, in 2002-03 it was increased by 2x that was 13.00 million subscriber , in 2003-04 it was again touched more than 2x so it was 33.20 million subscriber, in 2004-05 subscriber base was 52.22 million and at last in 2005-06 subscriber base touched 90.00 million subscriber.

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Here, starting from 1995-96 was 4.48 telephones per 100 person, and after that it was increased by 8.12 telephones peer 100 person, and at last between 2005-06 total no. of telephones per 100 person touched to 12.60.

Here, starting from 2000-01 there was only 4 million mobile subscribers, after that between 200506 it was raised by 2x and touched to 90 million, between 2010-11 it again raised by more than 4x and touched to 433 million, again between 2011-12 subscriber base touched to 526 million, between 2012-13 it touched to 620 million, in 2013-14 it will be touched to 715 million , in 2014-15 it will touched to 808 million and at last is it estimated that between 2015-16 subscriber base will be approx 899 million. Growth of Telecom Services in Rural India Inadequate access in rural India, where over 70% of the population lives has caused further marginalization of the marginalized. Therefore, it is vital that an enabling environment through policy and regulatory measures is created for the transformation of the existing digital divide into digital opportunity, which also, as is well known, has been a key driver behind the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). At the time of issuance of the Consultation Paper on growth of telecom services in rural India on October 27, 2004, we had emphasized on the widening gap between rural and urban tele-density and had stated that this was not sustainable. The graph shown in the consultation paper is repeated below

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It has only been less than one year that we highlighted this difference. Today, as we write this report, the divergence has increased fast and is shown below:

These graphs clearly show the huge success in our policies towards urban telecommunications and perhaps a failure in replicating the same for rural areas. This needs further analysis and would be dealt with in the subsequent chapters Page | 5

[3] Ground aspect of cellular service:[3.1] Tariff Policy The telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for socioeconomic development for a nation. It is one of the prime support services needed for rapid growth and modernization of various sectors of the economy. Indian telecommunication sector has undergone a major process of transformation through significant policy reforms, particularly beginning with the announcement of NTP 1994 and was subsequently re-emphasized and carried forward under NTP 1999. Driven by various policy initiatives, the Indian telecom sector witnessed a complete transformation in the last decade. It has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last few years and is poised to take a big leap in the future also. In compliance with section 3 of the Electricity Act 2003 the Central Government hereby notifies the Tariff policy in continuation of the National Electricity Policy (NEP) notified on 12th February 2005. The National Electricity Policy has set the goal of adding new generation capacity of more than one lakh MW during the 10th and 11th Plan periods to have per capita availability of over 1000 units of electricity per year and to not only eliminate energy and peaking shortages but to also have a spinning reserve of 5% in the system. Development of the power sector has also tomeet the challenge of providing access for electricity to all households in next five years. [3.2]Tarrif war vs revenue The ongoing tariff war in the highly competitive Indian telecom market has been taking new shape with every passing day. Operators have been announcing new promotional schemes including reduction in tariffs for voice call, slashing roaming charges and many more such lucrative offers. Recently floated idea of per second call rates has further aggravated competition among telecom players with every operator seemingly imitating others for retaining their market share.

[4] Telecommunication in rural India:"Integrated Rural Development" takes advantage of the widespread synergistic effect of the introduction of telecommunication services in the rural and remote areas. It proposes the application of telecommunications to benefit the coordinated development of all sectors of the rural economy, including agriculture, fisheries, forestry, transportation, and education, health care, financial and other transactions, and the quality of government and delivery of government services. The national investment in telecom in the first six five-year Plans since 1950 hovered between 1.4 and 2.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Only after 1985 did things start looking up for telecom, with the investments jumping up to 3.6 percent of GDP in the Seventh Plan (1985-90) and 11.9 percent in the Eighth Plan (1992-97). The Ninth Five Year Plan has a plan of 13percent of GDP to be invested on the Telecommunications Infrastructure. In 1989 the Telecom Research Center (TRC) formulated some guidelines for Rural Telecom Sector with plans to implement a phone in every village till 1999. With the opening up of the economy in 1991 the sudden requirements for telecommunications changed and the plans were redrafted in 1994 through the National Telecom Policy. The new National Page | 6

Telecommunications Policy (NTP) announced in 1994 anticipates an expansion of ten million lines to a total base of almost 16 million within the eigth five-year plan which ended in March 1997. The plan also called for all 0.6 million Indian villages to be connected to the telephone network by 1997 - until now, only about one-third have had a telephone. In addition, the aim was to achieve an average density of at least 2.5 lines per 100 people by the year 2000 for the Rural Sector. The world average is 10 per 100 people. Presently India has 21,328 Telephone Exchanges with a capacity of 15.1 million lines. The network is growing at an enormous rate of 21.6%. One-fourth of the total capacity is installed in the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Primary reasons for more active Government Role in Rural Telecommunications Policy: 1) New rural economic development requires a reliable infrastructure of enhanced telecommunications. Participation by rural and poor segments of society in the information economy should be a strategic priority both for social and economic development reasons. 2) Special transition policies are a fair way to help Rural India adjust to the new telecommunications marketplace. 3) Rural residents deserve an equal opportunity to participate in the national economy and determine their own destiny. Particular emphasis should be given to the role of telecommunications technology in enabling rural citizens to integrate effectively in the Indian economy and then the new Global Economy. 4) Successful systems require not just appropriate technology but primarily that all other elements policies, people, processes, incentives, institutions, and infrastructure - are present and work well. This is possible only under the guidance of a regulatory authority of the Government e.g. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). Public private partnership in telecommunication infrastructure has brought great benefits to the Indian economy and the telecom subscribers. This growth has come in after the Government of India/TRAI made major changes in the policies, structure and the regulation in the telecommunication sector. All stakeholders also responded by making Herculean efforts. Let us look at the past growth and the future possibilities in the sector, the policy changes made by the Government to bring about public private partnership, and the major hurdles that had to be crossed by the Government and the regulator in enforcing its policies. Only this analysis can indicate a direction for the future. Prior to liberalization local calls, national long distance calls and international calls were either managed by Government or by Government companies and this network constituted a vertically integrated natural monopoly. Post liberalization led to many competing, public and private players, operating in the network in a competitive environment. Let us look at the performance of the sector and operators before and after liberalization/regulation Tele-density in 1948 i.e., just after independence was 0.02%. The Government and its monopolies made efforts to increase this tele-density and by 1998 i.e. after 50 years of independence the tele-density increased to 1.94% and the total growth in tele-density during this 50-year period was 1.92%.

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Though manufacturing of telecom equipment by private sector was permitted in 1984 and some services like Radio paging, etc. were also opened for private sector in 1992, but the reform process only started after the issuance of National Telecom Policy, 1994, which called for bidding for private licenses and setting up an independent regulator. The independent regulator was set up in 1997 after the promulgation of TRAI Act, 1997. The Regulator issued the first tariff order in 1999 and thus the reform process really started during this year, 1999. Some problems were identified in NTP 94 and in the implementation of TRAI Act, 1997. This led to issuance of NTP 99 and amendments in TRAI Act in 2000.

Tele-density increased from 1.94% in 1998 to 5.11% in 2003 i.e. an incremental growth of 3.17% in five years (about 0.6% per annum). The growth substantially picked up after 2003 and during 2003-04 and 2004-05 it has been of the order of 2% every year. During each year thus, the growth exceeded the first 50-year growth after independence. This would happen in 2005-06 also.

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Mobile subscriber base

Most of the telecom services in India had a late start. Mobile started in 1980s in other countries. In China, they started in 1988. We debated whether mobiles are suitable technology and ultimately introduced them in 1995. The advantage of introducing mobile technology late was that we got mobile equipment at cheap rates and this coupled with other proper regulatory and policy measures brought down the subscriber rates to levels lowest in the world.

Rural Telecom Policies


DOT (Department of Telecommunications) along with C-DOT (Center for Department of Telematics) has till date provided telephone connections to about 0.2 million villages up till now and a lot still needs to be done. The DOT has various policy plans for the rural Telecom sector like 1)North East Region(NE Region) Plan for north eastern states: The NE Region consists of the following states Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura. The North Eastern States are located on a mountainous terrain they are in most need of proper communication facilities. The DoT is giving special attention to the rapid development of Telecom facilities in the NE Region of India. As a matter of policy only modern technology equipment are being inducted into in this region. 2)Tribal Sub-Plan(TSP) with the 20 point program: This plan was developed for all round and faster development of Telecom facilities in tribal areas. It was started in 1989 and integrated with the 8th Five Year Plan. Its main objectives are:

To provide telephone facilities practically on demand in Tribal and Rural Areas. To provide public telephones in all tribal villages. To provide National Subscriber Dialing to all exchanges in Tribal Areas

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[4.1] A Conflict Almost a decade ago a slogan was famous shining India. This slogan has also elongated gap between Bharat and India. In spite of knowing the fact that more then 60% of people of India stay in villages ie they are part of rural India Indians are often considered as front benchers of nation. Of course connectivity is also anticipated in rural part for sustainable development. Telecommunication is an aspect through which people can stay connected all around. Since population density is non uniform unlike urban area so from service point of view it will a challenge for service providers in rural area. It is also obvious the mode of tele service seekers are unlike urban patter and its reason can be life style of people. Its means people may have heterogeneous requests for trendy value added services which requires less infrastructure. But here in this case it would be encouraging if they receive support and service for what they find their employment. Although a series of conflicts can be lined up but at least adequate service with limited infrastructure can let rural people pull up their life. Following two segments describe further opportunities, challenges and relevant solutions. [4.2] Opportunity & Challenges:For the next billion mobile users the challenge is to deliver a mobile service to rural users that can not only be viable, but be profitable at these low levels of Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Some remarkable data regarding above is around 720 million people in 630,000 villages across 3.2 million square miles with huge population with over 50% of Indias total GDP. There are almost same number of middle to high income households in rural areas (21.16 mn) as urban India (23.22 mn) with massive economy. The economies which are emerging as Booming and Parallel can be portrait as: A huge population 720 million people in 630,000 villages across 3.2 million square miles. A massive economy over 50% of Indias total GDP. There are almost same number of middle to high income households in rural areas (21.16 mn) as urban India (23.22 mn). A booming economy with the consumer durables market, for example, growing at 25% per year (vs 10% nationally). A parallel economy with the same needs as developed markets but a reduced ability to pay. A booming economy with the consumer durables market, for example, growing at 25% per year (vs 10% nationally) and A parallel economy with the same needs as developed markets but a reduced ability to pay. [4.3]The challenges of rural India: Challenges are often considered as hindrance in achieving any project. It has also strong resemblance with TeleServices. At ground level there are certain challenges which have to overcome. These are:

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Rapidly Falling ARPU The competitive intensity in the telecom industry in India is one of the highest in the world and has lead to sustained fall in realisation for the service providers. Intense competitive pressure and cut throat pricing has resulted in declining ARPUs. With increasing number of new entrants in the telecom space the competitive intensity is likely to continue, putting further downward pressures on the telecom tariffs. Thus, the telecom companies might have to grapple with further decline in ARPUs, going forward. Further, with the telecom companies moving their focus to the rural areas for driving the future subscriber growth they might not witness a commensurate increase in revenues. In fact, the risk of steep decline in ARPUs will increase going forward as the telecom companies penetrate rural markets that are characterised by higher concentration of lowincome, low-usage customers. A higher-than-expected decline in ARPU poses a risk of reduction in margins of service providers. Alternatively, telecom operators are turning their focus to steadily increasing the minutes of usage (MoU) to counter the sustained fall in ARPUs. Likewise, the growth of the VAS is also crucial for some improvement in the ARPUs of operators. Lack of Telecom Infrastructure Lack of telecom infrastructure in semi-rural and rural areas could be one of the major hindrances in tapping the huge rural potential market, going forward. The service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed cost to enter rural service areas. Further, as many rural areas in India lack basic infrastructure such as road and power, developing telecom infrastructure in these areas involve greater logistical risks and also extend the time taken to roll out telecom services. The lack of trained personnel in the rural area to operate and maintain the cellular infrastructure, especially passive infrastructure such as towers, is also seen as a hurdle for extending telecom services to the under penetrated rural areas. Rural Areas Continue to Remain Under Penetrated A rural teledensity of merely 15% point towards the fact that a majority of Indian population still do not have access to telecom services. The rural India seems to have remained untouched by the telecom revolution witnessed in the last few years. A huge 'digital divide', which is reflected by the enormous difference of 74% between the urban and rural teledensity, reiterates this fact. However, with the urban markets reaching a saturation point, the telecom service providers are penetrating rural areas for driving future growth. Thus, the service providers entering new rural markets might witness substantial increase in subscriber base. The expansion in the rural areas, however, has increased the risk of further decline in the ARPUs. Nonetheless the revenue growth from these regions is unlikely to match the surge in the subscriber base. Excessive Competition Another major concern that has come to the forefront in the recent past has been heightened competitive intensity in the industry that has correspondingly fuelled the price war between industry players. The Indian wireless market is one of the worlds most competitive markets, with 12 operators across 23 wireless circles and 6 to 8 competing operators in each circle. The auction of new 3G licences and the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) are likely to heat up competition in the industry, going forward.

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Spectrum is the most important resource that is required for providing mobile services. Given that spectrum is a finite resource, the availability of the same would be inversely proportional to the number of operators. Thus, larger the number of service providers smaller will be the amount of spectrum available to each of them. Scarcity of spectrum leads to higher capex on deployment of mobile networks for the operators as they need more cell sites to improve service quality. Further the growing usage of spectrum and the resultant scarcity may lead to re-use of spectrum and increase chances of congestion in networks leading to constraints on service quality. Evidently, the competition in the industry is expected to intensify further with the entry of new players, both domestic as well as foreign players. With the competitive intensity of the industry already at such high levels new operators might find it difficult to gather significant share in Indian telecom market. While the new players may benefit from a faster network rollout through tower sharing, they will face challenges in terms of high subscriber acquisition costs and lower ARPU customers. Price War Between the Service Providers Putting Pressure on Margins The ever-increasing competitive intensity in the sector, with licenses and spectrum in several circles allotted to newer operators, is also a concern and could lead to unrealistic pricing levels to grab subscribers. The pricing strategy of per second billing already has taken the price war between telecom operators to the next level. The intensifying price war could put significant downward pressure on the industry revenue growth. Further, the ongoing price war and the concomitant decline in telecom traffic could raise the entry barrier for new companies. Spectrum Allocation 3G Spectrum availability is one of the major concerns for the industry. Lack of adequate spectrum which is the most integral part of the mobile telephony sector could hamper its growth severely. However, the spectrum allotment has been the most controversial issues in the Indian telecom sector. The smooth process of scheduled 3G and BWA spectrum allocation is likely to be one of the key factors affecting the industry dynamics, going forward. Given the highly-competitive nature of the Indian telecom industry on one hand, and limited licenses in the 3G network on the other, the risk of excessive biding by the service providers has increased. Irrational bidding, especially in some circles, might render 3G services financially-unviable. Further, there exists a risk of delay in allotment of proposed spectrum to the service providers who have successfully bid for the 3G spectrum. Regulatory Charges The regulatory charges in the telecom sector have a complicated structure because multiple levies impede the smooth implementation of telecom projects in India. Given the continuously-declining ARPUs, and the extremely-low tariffs, sustianing the current growth rates of the industry requires urgent attention towards rationalising the convoluted tax structure in the sector.

Power challenges Most of rural India is not served by the power grid. Some areas may get agricultural power two hours in the morning and evening. Page | 12

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Revenue challenges Rural India can pay for mobile services, but only around $2 per month. The cost base of any solution has to be geared to these ARPU levels. Skills challenges There are no trained telecom engineers and few people can read or write. Access challenge: These are extremely remote communities, served by poor roads and no other significant infrastructure.

[5] The Solution:World GSM is a new approach to delivering profitable mobile services to rural India and beyond. Its the first example of micro telecom, the re-engineering of telecommunications to meet the needs of rural and remote communities. WorldGSM is a complement to existing GSM networks, extending them to seize the rural opportunity. It is: Telecom and network connectivity have widely been seen as enablers of a nations socio economic growth; a McKinsey study cites that a 10% increase in teledensity contributes to 0.6% of GDP growth. Though urban India is reaping the benefits of the telecom revolution, rural teledensity is still low, at only 8%. The scenario for Internet and broadband penetration is much bleaker - a JuxtConsult report pegs India's rural Internet usage at just 5 million. The constantly evolving ICT landscape has not been unable to include the vast rural majority, simply because these areas have no access to the internet. The industry could do more to think differently on how rural India can participate and benefit from the ICT revolution. The Internet is without a doubt the superhighway on which economies surge ahead, and apart from the apparent benefits to the economy and a modern workforce, there is also immense opportunity for agriculture as well as other traditional industries. Imagine if rural communities had access to information that could improve their livelihoods. Initiatives such as e-Choupal have successfully been able to leverage the Internet to empower small and marginal farmers. The program provides farmers with know-how, services, timely and relevant weather information, transparent price discovery and access to wider markets - all through a mobile device that feeds off a wider network. This has helped roughly 4 million farmers to better manage risk. India would be well on its way to minimizing the digital divide if similar models were replicated across other sectors in rural areas - cottage industries, fisheries, and others. The true benefits of technology are in its application, and if an effective deployment of a network that enables academic information to flow to rural areas brought millions of children access to better education, we should be able to improve our scores on literacy and employability. A recent effort towards this has been made by several IT majors who have come together for a District Learning Centre initiative at Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, to provide learning opportunities and IT training to the youth of the district. Access to high-speed internet services could make rural BPOs a viable option, offering attractive employment opportunities to village youth. This in turn would decrease the current migration rates of rural population to urban areas, reduce rural India's dependency on agriculture, and contribute towards inclusive growth.

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The government has also been advocating the use of technology to enable efficient delivery of public services. State Govt. endeavours to use technology include forays into wide area networks, setting up systems for processing information and delivering services to enable the citizen-state interface for various services like electronic file handling, public grievance systems, and routine transactions such as payment of bills and tax dues. But all is not hunky dory - for rural areas to truly benefit, PC penetration will have to increase and affordable PCs or suitable alternatives will have to be made available to the masses. Additionally, if inclusive growth is our goal, India needs to treat the Internet and telecom connectivity as critical infrastructure, just like roads, airports and power. The winds of change are blowing in that direction - the Indian government has recently announced its 3G policy which will make available 3G, HSPA and WiMAX technologies that are expected to bridge the last mile and drive mobile broadband in rural areas. Moreover, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recent Internet telephony decision, permitting ISPs to terminate local, STD and ISD calls from computers to mobiles and landlines or vice versa, is likely to reduce both local and long distance call rates and boost rural connectivity in a relatively price-sensitive market like India. Once differences over policy issues and spectrum allocation are resolved the country could see 3G HSPA and Net telephony rollouts, throwing open a world of possibilities. In addition to all the benefits cited earlier on in this article, other potential applications could include introduction of customised services in regional languages via Live TV, webcasts and streaming audio/video applications, ehealthcare and infotainment, to mention a few. India can then look to adopt models that have been tried and tested in other markets or even export some of our learnings to other markets, and are likely to delay services. Rural India is expected to account for 40% of the 250 million new wireless users as per a recent study conducted by FICCI and Ernst and Young. If these subscribers had access to broadband and high-speed Internet, every citizen would truly be able to participate in - and benefit from - the global information revolution and contribute to a balanced growth of the nation.

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Low-power at less than 50W per Base Station, the entire system can be run on solar power. Low cost a fraction of the cost of traditional GSM Base Stations; profitable at very low densities and ARPUs. Fully GSM standards compliant easily links to existing networks, dramatically extending their reach.. Self-deploying the entire WorldGSM Base Station packs into two carts and is easily installed by unskilled field staff who may not be able to read or write. No buildings, power, air conditioning. Just point it South and turn it on. Near-Zero Maintenance update software remotely and perform simple swap repairs if needed. Cascading Star Architecture a unique, modular architecture optimised for low-cost rural expansion; with local switching to minimize backhaul.

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[6] Contribution to Indian economy:Following two table elaborating total contribution of the telecommunication services in Indian Economy. Th data is taken [4] from 2005-06 and projected to 2015-16. Its just projection based on past records.

Here, ARPU means Average Revenue per Mobile User per Month in India so, starting from 2005-06 there was rs. 4500, and after that in 2010-11 it was decreased by rs. 1100 and come to rs 3600. And at last in 2015-16 it is estimated that ARPU will be rs 3600. Here, we will talk about contribution to GDP , in 2005-06 there was rs. 32000 billion at factor cost at current price and percentage of GDP was 1.3. after in 2010-11 there was rs 57600 billion and in this year contribution of GDP was 2.7. at last 2015-16 it is estimated that rs 103680 billion and it will contribute 3.1 to our GDP.

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[7] Road map proposed by DoT for Indian market:The Department of Telecommunications is part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in the executive branch of the Government of India.Telecom services have been recognized the world-over as an important tool for socio-economic development for a nation and hence telecom infrastructure is treated as a crucial factor to realize the socio-economic objectives in India. Accordingly, the Department of Telecom has been formulating developmental policies for the accelerated growth of the telecommunication services. DoT has launched two distinguished policies for growth of countries and theses are Policies of 1994 and 1999. A brief overview of policies in 94 can be observed below in table 3 where the target was achieved was more than it was set. In 94s National Telecom policy some of the important objectives were availability of telephone on demand, provision of world class services, making India as a big manufacturing base. Now adhering to the above statement government invited private sector participation initially for VAS and later on they expanded for fixed telephone services also. VSAT services were also liberalized. In this period government announced the policy for Internet service providers by private operators. Global Mobile For Personal Communication by satellite was also opened up. Apart from above some more critical issues were discussed for better service in telecommunication.

[7.1] Standardization To enable the establishment of an integrated telecommunication network, common standards with regard to equipment and services would be specified by the Telecom Engineering Centre (Tec). o Telecom equipment manufacture The Government would provide the necessary support and encouragement to the sector, including suitable incentives to the service providers utilising indigenous equipment. Human resource development and training Human resources are considered more vital than physical resources. Such expertise shall also be made available to other countries. Telecom research and development Recognising that telecommunications is a prime pre-requisite for the development of other technologies, telecommunications research and development (R&D) activities would be encouraged. Disaster management International co-operation in the use of terrestrial and satellite telecommunications technologies in the prediction, monitoring and early warning of disasters, especially in the early dissemination of information would be encouraged. Remote area telephony Rural Telephony, areas of North East, Jammu & Kashmir and other hilly areas, tribal blocks, etc. Page | 16

Export of Telecom equipment and services Export of telecom equipment and services would be actively incentivised. Right of way Government recognizes that expeditious approvals for right-of-way clearances to all service providers are critical for timely implementation of telecom networks.

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[8] Conclusion:Penetration of telecommunication or TeleServices in rular area is not only goal rather rular people should also avail all the services with same quality at affordable prices is ultimate target. Agencies like DoT , TRAI, VNL are doing there respective jobs effectively but main challenges is to implement all policies which are lunched by above. Then only our rular india will be able to compete with urban as far as telecommunication services are concerned.

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[9] References:1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Telecommunications 2. Edwin B. Parker Parker Telecommunications May 1996, Telecommunications and Rural Development: Threats and Opportunities 3. Bringing telecommunication to rural India, White paper VNL, 2009 4. The diffusion of mobile phones in India, S K Singh IITK 5. Prakash R, Markad N T , Communication system pp238 -250, I K International Publication New Delhi 2010.

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