 | Indian Telecom System | |
In today’s world it is hard to imagine the growth and modernization of various sectors in the economy without proper telecommunication services. Telecommunication in India is one of the most sophisticated and also an essential system of communication for people from every section of the society. Its importance has increased in recent years because of the Information Technology industry. Providing a world class telecommunication infrastructure is the need of the hour. Its growth has to be therefore furthered in the Tenth Plan. The government has to keep in mind that not only the telecommunication services have to be brought up to the international standards but also the cost has to be in tune with the economy on the whole.
The New Telecom Policy (NTP) announced in 1999 has taken into account the far-reaching technological developments taking place in the telecom sector globally. The objectives of the NTP 1999 are to:
- Make available affordable and effective communications for the citizens.
- Strive to provide a balance between the provision of universal service to all uncovered areas, including the rural areas and the provision of high-level services capable of meeting the needs of the country’s economy.
- Encourage the development of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal areas of the country.
- Create a modern and efficient telecommunications infrastructure taking into account the convergence of IT, media, telecom and consumer electronics and thereby propel India into becoming an IT superpower.
- Convert Public Call Offices (PCOs), wherever justified, into Public Teleinfo centres offering multimedia services like Intergrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) services, remote database access, government and community information systems etc.
- Transform in a time bound manner, the telecommunications sector to a greater competitive environment in both urban and rural areas providing equal opportunities and level playing field for all players.
- Strengthen research and development (R&D) efforts in the country and provide an impetus to build world-class manufacturing capabilities.
- Achieve efficiency and transparency in spectrum management.
- Protect the defence and security interests of the country.
- Enable Indian telecom companies to become truly global players.
The Indian telecom industry is the fifth largest in the world and one of the fastest growing sectors of the country. In 1986, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam was established to operate systems in Mumbai and New Delhi, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam, also government owned, was set up as the overseas carrier. Progress was slow, but by the mid-nineties about 1 million new connections were established.
The whole country has been divided into several telecom circles or zones which are provided with Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) codes.
Usually the telecom sector was owned originally by the Government but in recent times, the Government of India has allowed several private players to run local and long distance telephone services. There are mainly two types of telecom services provided by the service-providers namely, landline and cellular.
Fixed Line: Fixed Line service in India is primarily run by BSNL or MTNL and some other private players like Reliance, Airtel and Tata Indicom. With the development of mobile phones (cell phones) the landline network has improved its quality. Today, these are easily available on demand, even in rural areas.
Cellular (or Mobile): The cellular service has seen a significant growth since 2000. A recent survey has revealed that there are 149.5 million mobile phone users in India compared to 40.43 million fixed line subscribers. The figure is continuously rising.
Dialing CodesThere are area wise STD codes available in India. Intra circle calls are considered as local calls whereas inter circle calls are considered as long distance calls. For dialing a particular number, first one has to dial the area code and then the telephone number, if somebody is dialing from inside the country. But if somebody is dialing from outside the country, then he/she must dial the country code first and then the area code, followed by the number. For example if you dial a number in Delhi then dial 011 (area code) and then the number. If you are dialing from outside the country then add the country code - 91.
For STD code search,
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