India PM calls for more spectrum release
March 20, 2006India's prime minister said Monday that additional communications spectrum should be released to telecom operators.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government was working on plans to shift spectrum currently reserved for government use to private operators in order to keep the momentum going in the booming telecom sector.
The government has been keenly interested in ramping up telecom service in India, which has been increasing in urban areas but still lags in the countryside.
"We are working steadily towards the issue of releasing spectrum from government use for the use of commercial telecom operators so that the growth of the dynamic sector is not constrained by the shortage of this vital resource," Singh said in a dispatch from Press Trust India.
Singh also called for India to maintain a "forward-looking" approach to the convergence of telecom and broadcast services on a single platform.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
