Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday released draft recommendations on rural telephony for overcoming various constraints coming in the way of increasing telecom penetration in rural India.

The regulator has invited comments from stakeholders by March 12, 2009.

"There is a need for evolving the policy and regulatory environment necessary to encourage service providers to move to these apparently less lucrative markets (rural).

"Sustained growth will only come about when both the operators as well as the users see a value in the proposition," Trai chairman Nripendra Misra said in the preface of the draft recommendations.

The rate of growth of telecom penetration in urban India has been higher than that in rural areas of the country.

Total telecom subscribers as on January 2009 were 400.05 million, out of which only 26.6 per cent is the contribution from rural India that constitutes 70 per cent of the total population of the country.

As on December 2008, the rural teledensity was 12.62 per hundred of population and urban teledensity was 81.40 per hundred of population.

"One of the most basic needs of mankind communication is still a challenge in villages and remote places, while urban India witnesses a telecom revolution. In a market where margins are getting pressed, setting up of telecom infrastructure in rural areas is not very lucrative.

"The service providers expect some kind of friendly policies for rural telephony, and also want to be compensated by the government for operating in rural areas," Trai said.