The Hindu Business Line : TRAI proposals on rural tele-density to be sent to DoT soon

THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendations for augmenting rural tele-density will be forwarded to the Department of Telecommunications within the next fortnight, according to Mr Pradip Baijal, Chairman of TRAI.

On the sidelines of `IT East 2005 - National Conference on KPO: Moving up the Value Chain', organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Eastern Region, Mr Baijal told newspersons that there was a huge mismatch in tele-density between urban and rural India. While in the urban areas, the tele-density is 31 per cent, in rural India it is a paltry two per cent. However, there is a huge market with purchasing power waiting to be tapped in rural India.

Later, addressing the conference, Mr Baijal said the purchasing power in rural India was evident in the successful marketing efforts of companies such as Hindustan Lever and ITC. In this context, he said there were 61 million cable TV connections in India, against 49 million fixed line telephones.

Given the nation's economic fundamentals and network expansion plans being put in place across the country by telecom operators, the national tele-density has the potential to go up from 9 per cent at present to 20-22 per cent within the next two years.

According to Mr Baijal, it will be worthwhile to replicate the business process outsourcing (BPO) and the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) models in the rural areas. This will go a long way in helping the nation garner a larger share of the global outsourcing pie.

Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, President of CII, said the global KPO market was estimated to go up to $17 billion by 2010. However, by then, the KPO industry in India will engage only 0.5 million people. It is thus necessary to focus on employability in the sector especially in view of the fact that India produces six million employable youth every year.

In his address, Mr Raman Roy, a pioneer in the country's BPO industry, said, despite the capabilities in the country, India was "not doing good enough" in the BPO/KPO arena.

India can penetrate further into the global outsourcing market given its advantages with regard to costs, productivity and quality.

Earlier, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, addressed the National Council of CII at the same venue.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Sabarimala Temple all set for Rs 1,000-cr facelift — IL&FS to raise funds from market

Mukta Arts: CLB gives nod for further probe

Govt to set new standards for ayurvedic, unani drugs

TRAI proposals on rural tele-density to be sent to DoT soon

Soon, your vegetable hawker may be graded

Domestic investors pull out Rs 16,000 cr — Net sales on NSE since June