Indian telecom sector Indian telecom sector has come a long way in achieving its dream of providing affordable

and effective communication facilities to its citizens as envisaged in NTP 99. As a result, common man today has access to the most needed facility. Larger efforts are continuously being made to provide universal service to all uncovered areas including rural areas. The reform measures coupled with the proactive policies of the DoT have resulted in an unprecedented growth of the telecom sector. Today, the Indian telecommunication network with over 270 million connections is the third largest in the world and the second largest among the emerging economies of Asia. India of late has emerged as an important player in the telecom industry worldwide and it is the endeavor of the Indian government to facilitate further growth of this vital industry as it is not just the growth of the sector but it has a multiplier effect on the entire economy. During the past few years the sector witnessed high growth rates. Since 2004, the number of telephones grew at a rate of 40%. The sector continued to register significant growth during 2007-08. The current addition of about 8 million lines per month puts the telecommunication sector on a strong footing to achieve the target of 500 million connections by 2010. Network expansion has been one of the major objectives for the DoT and they have been working successfully towards that goal. The total number of telephones reached 272.87 million on December 31st, 2007 as compared to 190 million a year ago. The teledensity has shown a sustained increase in the last few years as shown in the following graph. It has increased from 16.83% in 2006 to 23.89% in 2007. Though these numbers are low when compared with those of the developed economies, the rate of growth in the last few years and the projected growth rates in this sector suggests that we could reach the international standards sooner rather than later.