With a view to supplement the effort of the Department of Telecommunications in providing telecommunication services to the people, companies registered in India will be allowed to participate in the expansion of the telecommunication network in the area of basic telephone services also. These companies will be required to maintain a balance in their coverage between urban and rural areas. Their conditions of operation will include agreed tariff and revenue sharing arrangements. Other terms applicable to such companies will be similar to those indicated above for value-added services. Pilot projects will be encouraged directly by the Government in order to access new technologies, new systems in both basic as well as value added services.
Telecommunication is a vital infrastructure.
It is also technology intensive. It is therefore necessary that the administration of the policy in the telecom sector is such that the inflow of technology is made easy and India does not lag behind in getting the full advantage of the emerging new technologies. An equally important aspect is the strategic aspect of telecom which affects the national and public interests.