Communication Services in India1947 to 2007

Development of communication services has been assigned due priority in India’s Five year Plans beginning with the launching of First Five year Plan on April 1, 1951. However, telecommunication sector was chracterised by monopoly of the public sector after Independence. Although there was substantial expansion of postal and telecommunication facilities during th first forty years of planned economic development (1950-90), the demand for communication facilities always outstripped the expansion. Teledensity in the country has been pegged at 14.40 in July 2006, with a combined cellular and fixed connections, totaling up to 158.59 million. Due to high cost and poor quality of services, it was recognized that capacities must expand much more rapidly and competition be introduced to improve the quality of service and encourage induction of new technology. Communications has become especially important in recent years because of the enormous growth of information technology (IT) and its potential impact on rest of the economy. India is perceived to have a special comparative advantage in information technology and in IT-enabled services, both of which depend critically on high quality communications infrastructure. The new Telecom Policy (NTP) announced in 1999 modified the NTP, 1994 to take into account the far-reaching technological developments taking place in the telecom sector globally and to implement the Government’s resolve to make India a global IT superpower. NTP, 1999 also sought to solve problems arising out of the implementation of NTP, 1994. The telecom sector in India has been witnessing a continuous process of reforms since 1991. Part I of this work provides a detailed description and analysis of the evolution and the present nature of communication services in India. Part II of the book reproduces edited extracts in communication from India’s Five year Plans. Part II contains recent policy announcements pertaining to communication services.