The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Huge growth potential seen for ICT sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Huge growth potential seen for ICT sector

Staff Reporter

TRAI chairman cites convergence of technologies

CHENNAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Nripendra Misra on Monday said the ICT (information and communication technologies) sector had the potential for explosive growth like the telecom sector, especially because of the convergence of technologies.

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Cautioning the stakeholders against underestimating the demand in the ICT sector, he said one of the reasons for the growth of the telecom sector in recent years was the creation of demand ahead of the supply. Mr. Misra was inaugurating the five-day international conference of Asia-Pacific Telecommunications (APT) and ICT Development Forum here. It is in such a scenario there was a need for developing strategies for infrastructure development in the ICT sector, he told the meeting attended by representatives of several countries.

Noting that many of the countries would have had similar experience, the former telecom secretary said Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, a trendsetter in introducing new technologies, had a waiting list of subscribers in some areas for its services.

But notwithstanding the drop in investible surplus for the telecom companies, as a result of the falling tariff, the infrastructure had to be created.

While doing this, the company must follow "a balanced combination based on displaying sensitivity to the customer demand," Mr. Misra said. Stating that ICT must help the people develop their capabilities, he said the present growth in the sector was yet to percolate to sections of society, "particularly poor and marginalised."

Later, in an informal interaction with presspersons, he said a consultation paper on Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) brought out by TRAI sometime ago soliciting comments on the changes required to the Indian Telegraph and Indian Cable Acts "needs to be revisited."BSNL Chairman and Managing Director A.K. Sinha said, "ICT have done a great job in reshaping the world. Universal access to ICT is widely viewed as a key to economic prosperity. Communications now mean more than voice."

The global trend is shifting from voice to non-voice applications such as data communications, value-added applications, broadband services, e-services and a wide range of content applications.

"Everything is converging on internet protocol."

On BSNL's plans, he said it planned to provide two million broadband and eight lakh Internet connections this fiscal. Ten million telephone connections are also planned, including one million in rural areas.

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