'Telephones for all villages by 2002'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JUNE 17. The Union Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, today said serious steps are being put in place to address low tele density in India and the estimates for achieving the objective of raising tele density from the current 2.7 per cent to about 15 per cent would mean an additional investment of $ 37 billions by 2005 and nearly $ 70 billions by 2010.

Mr. Paswan, who is here in connection with the Annual Meeting of the United States India Business Council (USIBC), told presspersons here that the investment potential was not merely limited to basic telephone services but one that was spread over a range of services, including cellular.

The Minister made the point that a big task before the Government was providing telephone facilities to all villages by 2002.

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Section  : International
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