India to Reach 500 Million Subscruber By 2010

Given the explosive growth in mobile communications, India, through its use of a variety of wireless technologies, aims to reach 500 million subscribers by 2010, according to private sector and government officials attending a Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) conference in Kerala, India. India forecasts that its current level of 240 million subscribers will be doubled within less than two years, thanks to the policies being implemented by the Government of India, especially for universal access in rural and suburban areas.

The effort to connect rural communities is an important issue for ICT operatives in Asia, as regulators, governments and other stakeholders see the urgency of harnessing ICTs to bridge the digital divide and further create new market opportunities for the private sector in Asia.

As a diplomatic inter-governmental ICT organisation, the CTO has assembled regulators, Ministers of Communications and ICT giants to map rural connectivity in this explosive, high-growth market. The forum outlined the latest elements of rural ICT developments, while creating networking opportunities for the industry elite from across the entire value chain.

Commenting on the success of the conference, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the CEO of the CTO, said: "In our view at the CTO, the central challenge facing the development community in the ICT arena is how to connect the unconnected. In most developing countries, the unconnected are in the rural areas, hence the critical importance of our series of conferences in Africa and Asia on connecting rural communities. These events have been very helpful to our member governments, ICT regulators and industry executives in appreciating the right combination of policies, legislation, regulation, operational strategies, unique business models, innovative financing mechanisms and other local ownership and management arrangements that make rural connectivity initiatives sustainable."

Posted to the site on 18th April 2008