No prepaid mobiles in Kashmir from Nov 1

No new prepaid mobile connections would be issued nor would existing ones be renewed from Nov 1 in Jammu and Kashmir following reports that militant groups were getting SIM cards on fake identities, the union home ministry said Friday.

"The ministry of home affairs has decided that no prepaid mobile connections would be issued and existing prepaid SIM cards would not be renewed in Jammu and Kashmir after Nov 1, 2009," an official said.

Mobile handset sales up 6.7 percent in India

Mobile handset sales in India recorded a 6.7 percent increase to 100.9 million in the year ended June 30, as compared to 94.6 million the year before, according to an IT market intelligence firm.

In terms of units shipped, Nokia sold the most with a market share of 56.8 percent, followed by Samsung with a 7.7 percent share and LG with 5.4 percent share in the 12-month period ended June 30, said a report by IDC's India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker.

MTS India reaches 2 mn subcribers

MTS today announced that it has reached a base of 2 million subscribers. According to a latest reports on Indian Telecommunications, MTS also became the fastest growing Indian telecom service provider (wireless and wireline) with a month-on-month growth rate of 16.8% in August 2009. In fact, MTS was the only telecom brand to have registered a double-digit month-on-month growth in August across all CDMA and GSM operators.

M.Stanley says SingTel may raise stake in Bharti-MTN

Singapore Telecommunications could maintain a 25 percent stake in the combined entity created as a result of a potential merger between India's Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN, Morgan Stanley said in a report on Wednesday.

''We do not expect the Bharti-MTN transaction to have material dilutive impact to SingTel's EPS (earnings per share),'' analysts at the U.S. investment bank said.

Zain to sell 46 pc stake

Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain is in the final stages of selling 46 percent of the company to a group of Asian investors, in deal that would value the investment at $13.7 billion, Al-Arabiya television reported on Sunday.

Zain Chief Executive Saad al Barrak confirmed that shareholders were in talks but declined to offer details or to comment whether the talks were with India's Reliance Communications.

Zain is the Gulf Arab region's second-largest telecoms firm by market value. Al-Arabiya did not offer a source or further details.

Barrak said last week that Zain, whose shareholders voted to scrap individual ownership limits on Aug 31 amid a restructuring, was in negotiations to sell a stake in its African business.

Removing the ownership cap on the group means any local or foreign investor would be free to bid for control of the firm as a whole.

Two banking sources told Reuters in August that India's Reliance Communications had started talks to buy Zain's African operations.

The offer of 2 dinars per share reported by Al-Arabiya represents a 28 percent premium to Sunday's closing price of 1.56 dinars and values the stake at 3.93 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($13.68 billion), according to Reuters calculations.

Zain shares rose 5.4 percent on Sunday on the heels of a 20 percent rise in the past month as speculation of a bid has intensified.

Zain said on July 20 it was reviewing a possible sale of its African operations, excluding Morocco and Sudan, after French media and telecom conglomerate Vivendi broke off acquisition talks.

Zain's biggest shareholders are Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority, which owns 24.608 percent and family-owned conglomerate, the Kharafi Group, which holds at least a 10.86 percent stake, according to the Kuwaiti bourse website. Analysts estimate Kharafi owns about 20 percent in Zain through its units.

Uniform licence fee for telecom operators soon

The government is mulling a uniform licence fee for various services offered by telecom operators, a top official said here Monday.

"The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is considering implementing a uniform licence fee," said Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura at a conference organised by the Internet Service Providers Association of India.

Telecom operators currently pay between 6 percent and 10 percent of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the government as licence fees for the right to offer telephony and related services.

This move, when implemented, will cover not just mobile and fixed-line phone operators but also those with licences for national and international long-distance phone services and Internet access services.

In its recommendations for the budget for fiscal 2010, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the apex body of GSM operators, had called for a uniform licence fee of 1 percent of AGR, excluding the 5 percent Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund charge.

USO fund is the corpus set up by the government, wherein every telecom operator has to shell out about 5 percent of their AGR (including licence fee) to facilitate rollout of telecom sevices in rural areas.

12 mn telecom subscribers added in June

India recorded a 2.63 percent growth in the number of new telecom subscribers, adding 12.03 million new connections in June, official data released Thursday said.

With this, the total tally has reached 464.82 million, compared to 452.91 million a month before.

The overall tele-density has reached 39.86 percent, said sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.

Wireless subscriber base (GSM and CMDA) increased from 415.25 million in May to 427.28 million, registering a growth of 2.9 percent, TRAI said. Wireless tele-density stands at 36.64 percent.

The wireline subscriber base declined from 37.66 million in May to 37.5 million at the end of June.

State-run telecom operators, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which have about 86.2 percent market share in the wireline segment, lost 190,000 users in June. While BSNL lost over 180,000 subscribers, MTNL lost nearly 9,000.

"The lower growth rate in the metros and the higher growth rate in the circle 'C' areas reflects the service penetration levels," TRAI said.

"Subscription levels are currently witnessing higher growth rates in the so far under-served 'C' category circles."

The total broadband subscriber base increased to 6.62 million from 6.4 million, thereby showing a growth rate of 3.4 percent.

Three telecom operators under government scanner

he government has sought clarification from three private sector telecom operators for not reporting income from selling handsets along with their connections, a union minister said Monday.

"The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought clarification from Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Esar and Idea Cellular for not showing income from bundling handsets along with connections, for the purpose of calculating revenue share payable to the exchequer," Minister of State for Communications and IT Gurudas Kamat told the Lok Sabha.

Kamat said the operators have said that they were not selling handsets directly and hence "there is no revenue earned under this head".

However, the special audit, ordered by the government last week to check whether leading private telecom players misreported their revenues, will take the issue into account, the minister said.

India's GSM user base rises by nearly 9 mn

India's GSM-based mobile subscriber base grew by 8.89 million in June, as compared to the 8.3 million added in May, an industry body said here Monday in a statement.

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the apex body of GSM mobile operators, the growth was still sluggish compared to 8.97 million additions in April and 10.8 million in March.

The GSM-based subscriber base now stands at 315.7 million, an increase of 2.9 percent over the 306.8 million in the previous month. The figures submitted by COAI do not include the additions recorded by Reliance Communications in the month under review.

Bharti Airtel retained its top position with 2.8 million new subscribers added in June, making it the first operator to cross the 100-million subscriber base mark, COAI said.

State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam also recorded a slight increase in the monthly additions, getting 0.8 million (eight lakh) new users in June as compared to 0.45 million additions in May.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam that operates only in Delhi and Mumbai added about 36,953 new users in June, lower than 38,036 additions in May.

Telecom sector revenues cross Rs.40,000 crore in 2009

Continuing its robust growth, the Indian telecom industry saw its gross revenues growing 2.6 percent to more than Rs.40,000 crore in the quarter ending March 31, said the sectoral watchdog here Monday.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the gross revenue of the telecom sector for the period under review stood at Rs.40,444.66 crore, as against Rs.39,408 crore in the previous quarter.

The state-owned operators -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam -- together earned Rs.10,599 crore, while private players raked in Rs.29,846 crore.

TRAI said India's total subscriber base reached 429.72 million by March-end, as against 384.79 million for the quarter ending December, registering a growth of 11.68 percent.

Tele-density, too, increased 36.98 percent from 33.23 percent in the previous quarter.

The subscriber base of wireless and wireline increased to 391.76 million and 37.96 million respectively.

However, rural wireline decreased from 10.68 million to 10.58 million, a decrease of 0.93 percent.

According to the watchdog, the ARPUs (average revenue per user) continued to fall, decreasing 6.82 percent from Rs.220 in December-end to Rs.205 in March.

The number of Internet wireline subscribers increased 5.3 percent to 13.54 million in the fourth quarter as against 12.85 million in the same period a year before.

Indian Mobile servies revenue to row at 12.5 %: Gartner

Total mobile services revenue in India is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5 per cent from 2009-13 to exceed USD 30 billion, according to Analysts Gartner.

The India mobile subscriber base is set to exceed 771 million connections by 2013, growing at a CAGR of 14.3 per cent in the same period from 452 million in 2009.

This growth is poised to continue through the forecast period, and India is expected to remain the world's second largest wireless market after China in terms of mobile connections, it said in a report here.

''The Indian mobile industry has now moved out of its hyper growth mode, but it will continue to grow at double-digit rates for next three years as operators focus on rural parts of the country,'' said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner.

Growth would also be triggered by increased adoption of value-added services, which are relevant to both rural and urban markets, he added.

Mobile market penetration is projected to increase from 38.7 per cent in 2009 to 63.5 percent in 2013. Gartner said this growth is primarily attributed to the operators increasing their focus on the rural market, local consumer durable and electronic companies entering the domestic mobile handset segment, and lower handset prices.

The Indian mobile connection market continues to be dominated by prepaid subscribers. Prepaid connections accounted for more than 93 per cent of all mobile connections in 2008 and it is expected to grow to more than 96 per cent of the connection base by 2013, surpassing 741 million versus 312 million in 2008.

The postpaid subscriber base will exceed 29 million subscribers by 2013, grow at 2.5 per cent from 23 million in 2008.

The churn rate in India is 53.2 per cent in 2009, and despite a maturing market, the ratio is expected to increase to 59.6 percent in 2013.
Gartner said the revenue from data services will significantly contribute to the overall growth of mobile services in India , with a CAGR of 16.8 per cent from 2009 to 2013. Prepaid subscribers are expected to adopt data services faster than the post-paid segment. The bulk of revenue will continue to come from voice services. However, with the increased growth in data services, the percentage of revenue coming from voice will reduce from 89 per cent in 2008 to 86 per cent in 2013.

Gartner predicts a significant drop in average revenue per user (ARPU) as the bulk of new subscribers will come from rural areas, that are dominated by prepaid subscribers.

Also, voice tariffs will decline substantially in 2009 as new operators join the market. Growth will be triggered by increased adoption of value-added services, which are relevant to both rural and urban markets.

However, the bulk of new connections will come from data cards and multi-SIM use. Voice usage will increase steadily, but data usage will grow more strongly with the increased consumption of value-added services.

'Telecom sector more resilient than other sectors'

The booming Indian telecom industry that boasts of the world's second largest mobile network is more resilient than others in combating crises such as the current economic slowdown or natural disasters, says a technocrat who has been associated with the sector for over three decades.

At the launch of his book "Connecting India" Wednesday evening, S.D. Saxena, the former finance director of state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), said: "In our country, there is a different kind of focus on telecom, which helps it to grow more than any other sector."

Elaborating, he cited the instance of BSNL lines being re-installed in three days after floods hit Bihar recently, when it took other infrastructure weeks to get back to normal. "We have performed best even in crisis," Saxena said.

Connecting India is a lucid tale of the growth of India's telecom sector, including the transformation of the state-controlled telecom department into an aggressively growing company, BSNL, that competes with private players.

A Physics post-graduate and former lecturer, Saxena also narrates in his book the trials and tribulations of a new corporate entity carved out of a government department in the cut-throat competitive world of Indian telecom industry.

Saxena said BSNL's transformation was the result of the synergy between National Knowledge Commission head Sam Pitroda, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and a few others who triggered a revolution in the telecom sector.

The book, published by Konark Publishers, reveals the deeper intricacies of the country's number one telecom company that underwent a sea change in a span of few days.

Reading out small snippets from the book, Saxena said BSNL was like an old monk who carried a young maiden on his shoulder to help her cross the river without any ill feeling, forgetting his vow never to touch a woman.

"BSNL draws inspiration from such stories, wherein we did not carry any ill feelings of the past and constantly thought about helping our customers and our clients."

Pre-paid mobile connection licence in NE expires in February

Mobile service providers in the North East are clueless as to whether the licence of pre-paid connections in the region and Jammu and Kashmir, that expires in less than a month's time, would be extended or not.

The uncertainty has raised concern among lakhs of pre-paid mobile phone users in the region.

The existing licence for offering pre-paid mobile connections in NE expires on February 22 and the Centre had apprehensions on the suitability of renewing or extending the licence, especially after it was found that militants were using pre-paid connections.

However, the industry was positive that the licences would be extended.

''The present licence does expire on February 22. Though we have not received any intimation on renewal or its extension, we are expecting a positive development,'' Assam circle head of Reliance telecommunications C R Deka said.

He informed that since the later part of 2004, when pre-paid connections were re-introduced after they were lifted for some time, the licence for pre-paid connections has been awarded on an annual basis.

''The licence should be renewed in all possibility, though we could expect more terms and conditions while offering connections,'' Mr Deka said.

Public Relations Officer of Bharti Airtel Anjali Chittaranjan also sounded positive and said, ''We have not received any word from our higher-ups on discontinuing pre-paid services from mid-February, when the licence lapses.

''The licence would be renewed in all likelihood though the final word is still awaited,'' she added.

The government was contemplating ban on pre-paid connections after militants were found to be using such connections as they are more easily acquirable than post-paid connections.

Almost 80 per cent of the total mobile phone users in NE avail pre-paid connections service, with special set of rules already in place for pre-paid users in the region.

Put on Hold: Why Telecoms Can't Get Consumers to Bond More with Their Cell Phones

As the price of wireless transmissions drops, telecom carriers need to focus on new applications to engage consumers more deeply with their mobile devices -- and encourage them to pay a premium for wireless services, according to speakers at the recent Wharton Business Technology Conference, whose theme was "Enterprise Agility: Lead with Speed."
Amol Sharma, who covers telecom for the Wall Street Journal, moderated a telecom panel titled, "The Business of Wireless: When Everything Connects." He began the discussion with an overview of key issues shaping the industry. One issue is convergence, as major technology companies -- such as Apple and Google -- enter the communications business along with startups and established media companies in music, video and broadcasting.

Another theme is openness, especially in the wake of Google's participation in Android, a freely-available mobile platform. "The giant cell phone companies are reinventing their business models," said Sharma. He asked panelist Derrick Oien, cofounder and president of Intercasting Corp., which focuses on mobile social networking, how the wireless industry can make it easier for consumers to use the Internet with their mobile devices. Oien, noting that mobile phones operate on six different platforms, said the industry needs tighter integration between devices and applications in order to provide the same kind of Internet speed and usability that consumers have become accustomed to with their personal computers.
Despite the industry focus on openness, it remains mostly a marketing term, Oien said. Nokia has a phone that supports 150 applications, he added, "but you can't find them." In addition, the industry has been shaped by a "geek hacker mentality" that has emphasized smaller phones over usability and service.
Russ McGuire, director of corporate strategy at Sprint Nextel, pointed to three reasons why consumers -- who still use their devices primarily to make telephone calls -- have been slow to embrace new applications. The first is that cell phone users are afraid of running up a huge bill if they try a new feature. "Every time you do something on your phone, you're worried, 'Am I going to get a surprise on the next bill?' We have to take away that mental barrier," said McGuire, suggesting that Sprint Nextel's new $99 a month unlimited plan -- called Simply Everything -- is an attempt to ease those concerns. Verizon and other carriers have also been emphasizing flat-rate deals.

The second issue is what McGuire called discoverability. "Consumers are asking, 'How do I find all the cool stuff available? How do I find new applications?'" said McGuire. "The ability to personalize this device is hard, given the user interface we have. The industry has to do better at that."

Third, he warned that when new technologies come along, the industry typically tries to use them in old ways rather than adapting them specifically for the mobile platform. "There are things that are inherently different about mobility," said McGuire. He held up his own wireless device and said, "This is me. It's not my company. It's not my home. It's not my location. Those aspects of mobility are now just beginning to show up in applications."

Demands for More Openness

Sharma asked the panelists about Android, the Linux-based mobile phone operating system announced in November by Google and a coalition of more than 30 other technology companies. Android includes a freely available software development kit (SDK) which, Google and the other companies hope, will encourage development of new wireless applications.

According to McGuire, the concepts behind Android are in line with marketplace demands for carriers, such as Sprint Nextel and Verizon, to open their networks to other companies selling software for new applications, devices, services or access to their own networks.

McGuire prefers to think of openness as "freedom." He said carriers' current models require other companies offering new software applications or other services to gain permission to participate in the carriers' networks. "When I talk to people in the industry about openness, it means not having to ask permission and that's not the way we as carriers operate," said McGuire. "We force them to ask permission. Android is clearly a push away from that from the development side, but the question is: Is it a push away from the consumer side?"

Sprint Nextel, he adds, is attempting to build a business model based on openness. "Everybody develops first for Sprint Nextel because we're the most open, but we're not yet open enough," he said. "Freedom translates into value for the consumer and more choice."

Scott Snyder, CEO of the consulting firm Design Strategies International and a senior fellow in the Wharton management department, said wireless carriers are experiencing a repeat of what happened when Global Crossing and other companies built vast networks that drove down the price of broadband on fixed lines. As a result, telecom providers are now trying to compete with "triple play" phone, Internet and television packages -- or by bundling other services such as home management and security -- to maintain pricing power. "The same will happen in mobile," he predicted.

One option to improve margins, he said, is for carriers to own information and entertainment content. A second path is to develop services around mobile technology to manage security. Third, wireless firms can build business by creating a mobile ecosystem and collect revenue on a share basis for participation in the system. But, he adds, that would require opening networks and allowing the development of new applications. "Ultimately, the carrier that wins will have service differentiation and will bring the best network. And you will pay more for it," Snyder told the conference audience. "Service may be the silver bullet for the carriers to extract a premium."

Lee McKnight, CEO and founder of Wireless Grids and a professor of information studies in the iSchool at Syracuse University, was asked about criticism from Internet companies that the mobile industry is closed to outsiders and, as a result, lacks innovation.

McKnight said that as an entrepreneur, he sees how the advent of the personal computer and an open Internet completely disrupted value chains and created new markets and niches. The mobile industry has not experienced this yet. "That's partly because mobile was closed to outside innovation. There was no way to get into the network." Increasingly, however, the system is opening up. "It's just not there yet."

Tracking Down the Kids

Panelists debated the future of location-based services for wireless devices, which are built on GPS technology and can be used to help with many different tasks, from locating the nearest ATM machine to tracking missing children.

Oien noted that his company started out heavily focused on location, but came up against challenges to the business model, including privacy concerns and problems monetizing services. He cited a generational divide in accepting location-based wireless services: Young people, who have grown up displaying themselves on MySpace and Facebook, are more willing than their parents to forego privacy for services developed out of location-based technology.

According to Snyder, large wireless operators are beginning to take steps toward monitoring user locations, although not with associated identities, to better understand how and where people are using cell phones. He, too, said young people are more comfortable than older people with others knowing where they are through their wireless devices.

"If consumers think they can get value and benefit, there is a different perception," said Snyder, who noted that OnStar has been widely accepted in the auto industry. "The value exchange has to be there, whether for safety or convenience. Location is a dangerous slope, but I think ultimately consumers will vote and sort it out."

Sharma asked the panelists if the Federal Communications Commission's current auction of spectrum will lead to new entrants into wireless telecom that might revolutionize the industry. In the most recent auction, companies bid more than $2.4 billion in the first round.

That's not exactly the type of environment where revolutionary startups can get in the door, McKnight pointed out. The identities of the bidders are not yet known, in keeping with FCC rules, but companies that have indicated an interest include Verizon, AT&T and Google. Former FCC chairman Reed Hundt put together a new company, Frontier Wireless, to bid on the spectrum, according to McKnight, but even Hundt and his partners dropped out because they could not come up with enough money to win.

Oien suggested that the auction model should be re-evaluated because when companies pay the government billions to own spectrum, they simply pass those costs on to customers.

Low-tech Breakthrough Needed

When it comes to new breakthrough applications that will advance the capabilities of cell phones and other wireless devices, carriers still have clout with their control over networks, according to Snyder. "The best way to [achieve] success is for applications to be marketed through the carrier, which allows fairly healthy margins. I would expect, over time, that there [will be] opportunity for the entire market to grow."
In the future, according to Oien, there will be fewer applications developers, dropping from more than a thousand today down to several hundred.
At the end of the discussion -- which focused on advanced high-tech solutions to forging a new world of telecommunications with Internet Protocol and increasing connectivity -- Snyder raised one last concern: battery life. While companies are spending billions to develop new forms of connectivity, battery life is only increasing at a rate of 5% a year. "What we have is untenable," he said. "We need a breakthrough in batteries."
credits: Knowledge@Wharton

Broadband Connectivity Essential to Steer India to Next Phase of Telecom Growth: conference on ‘Connecting the Next 500 Million: Telecom Roadmap

The next phase of telecom growth will be driven by broadband paradigm, said Mr. R R Shah, Member Secretary, Planning Commission at a conference on ‘Connecting the Next 500 Million: Telecom Roadmap for the 11th Five Year Plan 2007 – 12’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here on Thursday.

Majority of the next 500 million customers in telecom will be in the rural areas, through rural connectivity. The approach to enable this will require the government to review the strategy pursued so far, and bring substantial change in policy framework followed, to enable the growth of the Telecom industry during the next Plan period, said Mr. Shah. Government is planning to develop villages as knowledge centers, he said.

There is a whole set of need at the rural level which has to be converted into opportunity in which Information and Communication technologies will have a major role, he said. Local content has to be encouraged to implement e-governance applications and connect rural India for the overall inclusive growth, he added.

There will be substantial outlays in the next plan period for education and health. Rural connectivity, e-governance applications, e commerce, tele-medicine and e-education which are going to contribute to substantial growth of telecom industry in the next phase of inclusive development in the 11th Five Year Plan period up to 2012, said Mr. Shah.

Mr. Sanjeev Aga, Chairman – CII National Committee on Telecom and Broadband and Managing Director, Idea Cellular Limited said that telecom industry is facing the challenges of interconnectivity as well as growth and expansion within the sector. He emphasised on the need that the government should instill confidence of the telecom industry by planning standard policies for the sector. Mr. Aga suggested that telecom policy should be integrated with national planning process undertaken by the Planning Commision.

Next three years will be difficult for the telecom industry as telecom companies will enter different geographical and socio-economic regions to foster growth, said Mr. Aga. The cost of passive infrastructure is enormous and telecom companies should consider the infrastructural challenges in the rural areas, he added.

Mr. D Shivakumar, VP and Managing Director, Nokia India Pvt. Ltd. said that telecom sector in India has grown because of innovative schemes offered by Indian operators. Growing economy, consumer spend, consistency of policy framework, operator’s innovation and affordable handset will enable the telecom sector to reach the target of 500 million connections by 2010, said Mr. Shivakumar.

The telecom growth will bring prosperity in rural areas and push the productivity in all the sectors, said Mr. Shivakumar. Affordability and availability of infrastructure will be key challenges for telecom industry to reach the rural customer, he mentioned. Value added services (VAS) industry is going to reach Rs.77,823 crores in 2012 which would be around 25% of mobile telephony market, informed Mr. Shivakumar.

Vikram Tiwathia, Chief Information Officer, CII said that emphasis on broadband technology and introduction of NGN technology will maneuver the telecom sector to next phase of growth. As recommendations for the growth of telecom industry on behalf of CII, he suggested spectrum availability, unbundling of copper local loop for enhancing broadband use, rationalisation of taxes, stable electricity supply and proper handling of e-waste components be attended to for the next phase of growth in the 2007-2012 FYP period.

The report “Telecom: Catalyzing the New Indian Economy” was released by Mr. R R Shah at the conference. The report produced by Frost & Sullivan examines the telecom growth in 11th Plan period. Specifically, the focus is on identifying challenges of reaching the 650 Million users by 2012, infrastructure and regulatory issues that need to be addressed. The report is based on valuable inputs from across academia, policy makers, and business leaders across telecom and related industries.

Presenting the findings, Mr. Anand Rangachary, Managing Director, Frost & Sullivan said that supportive policy environment, improving telecom infrastructure and growth in rural telephony are the key challenges for the telecom industry.

He mentioned that Indian telecom industry had contributed over Rs.1,05,287 to the Indian economy in 2006 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.8% to reach Rs.3,44,921 crores by 2012.

Mr Rangachary added that the Telecom industry is going to provide direct employment to 2.8 million people whereas 7 million people will get indirect employment, the report stated. E-agriculture will reduce procurement costs of farmers by 2.5% which will result in an economic benefit of Rs.6100 crores, added Mr. Rangachari.