INDIA'S INFRASTRUCTURE: TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY-DEVELOPMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

In today's information age, the telecommunication industry has a vital role to play. Considered as the backbone of industrial and economic development, the industry has been aiding delivery of voice and data services at rapidly increasing speeds, and thus, has been revolutionizing human communication. Indian telecom industry has come a long way since the days when one had to wait for years to get a new landline connection. Indian telecommunication sector is developed tremendous from the phase of telegraph to modern 3G wireless network due to number of policies and programmes passed by the government through regulating authority like Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in the year 1997. The phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom industry was brought about by the wireless revolution that began in the nineties. Besides this, the number of factors has aided the growth of the industry. Still it has some major challenges to overcome to growth of the industry in the forth coming years. This industry plays an important role in employment generation, growth of Gross Domestic Product and Foreign Direct Investment of our country. India is one of the most-attractive telecom markets because it is still one of the lowest penetrated markets. The government is keen on developing rural telecom infrastructure and is also set to roll out next generation or 3G services in the country. Operators are on an expansion mode and are investing heavily on telecom infrastructure.