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India to attract $ 37 billion investment in telecom by 2005: Paswan

Communication Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has invited global investors to India saying the rapid-fire reforms in the sector has made the country's investment climate very attractive.

"The Indian telecom sector is poised to attract about $37 billion of new investment by 2005 and $67 billion by 2010," Paswan said addressing the Global Market Forum in Atlanta, USA.

Assuring the big investors about fair play and timely resolution of disputes, Paswan said that creation of telecom regulator and setting up of an Appellate Tribunal was in this direction only.

Chairing the session on the Outlook of Telecom Sector in Asia and the Pacific, the minister said, "the government is committed to reforms. India provides an opportunity to the investors to participate in the expansion of telecom sector, which is growing by 23 per cent every year."

Outlining the programmes of telecom expansion in India, Paswan said that great emphasis was being laid on reducing the digital divide.

"We plan to cover all our villages with affordable telecom facilities by 2002 and provide them reliable media."

"We want to increase the teledensity in our rural areas to four per hundred by 2010 from the present level of 0.6 per cent. There is need of cost-effective and reliable technologies with low operational costs and maintenance efforts for rural and remote areas," the minister said.

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