500 million telecom customers in India by 2010

The Indian government has set themselves a target of achieving 250 million telephone connections in the country by next year. The long-term goal is to achieve 500 million telecom customers by the end of the decade.

These goals were announced in a press conference by the country’s minister for communications and information technology, Dayanidhi Maran.

India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. The mobile market is expanding at an awesome rate and millions of new customers are being added on a monthly basis.

In fact, the number of telephone connections, both fixed and wireless, in the country has doubled in the last two years to about 150 million.

We have of the cheapest rates in the world and this has helped the growth of mobile phones around the country. The government also aims to expand coverage of mobile services to 85% of the geographical area of the country by next year.

The Indian government has also asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to recommend the allocation and pricing model for the 3G frequency.