BARCELONA: Improved rural telecom connectivity is high on the Indian Government's agenda and a 3G policy is on the anvil by the year-end to attract foreign investors, Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the 3GSM World Congress here, Mr. Maran said the growing digital divide was a matter of concern. "We have to take concrete policy measures to address this concern. India cannot truly move forward unless we carry with us 70 per cent of our citizens who reside in rural areas.''

Keeping this in view, improved rural connectivity was one of the highest priority items for the Union Government, he added.

Mr. Maran said early introduction of 3G would promote faster rollout of rural applications such as e-governance and e-education. He hoped that by the end of this fiscal year, the country would have a firm and clear 3G policy. The new policy, while safeguarding the interests of the existing operators, would open the doors for new players.

Mr. Maran said the enhanced FDI limit in telecom from 49 per cent to 74 per cent had resulted in the entry of reputed international players like Vodafone and Maxis into India with substantial investment plans. In addition, many global telecom and IT giants had come forward to set up manufacturing or research facility in the country. These global telecom and IT companies had together committed investments of over $8 billion.

On spectrum-related issues, he said, India was not committed to any single technology but its policy was technology-neutral, aiming at growth and development of technologies/ standards so as to serve the larger interest of the country. The Government was actively working on all these areas to ensure adequate availability of spectrum for mobile operators in time. — UNI

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