Sibal says India committed to regulatory stability in telecom sector

New Delhi, Feb 28 (ANI): Union Minister of Communications and IT Kapil Sibal has said the present crisis being faced by India's telecom sector is a moment of opportunity as Government stands committed to providing clarity and regulatory stability to the industry.

Addressing the ongoing telecom sector GSMA Leadership Summit 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, Sibal said long-term measures such as National Telecom Policy, National IT Policy and National Electronic and Manufacturing Policy would delineate the telecom sector from uncertainties, paving way for long term investments.

He said India plans to move towards technology neutral unified license, delinked from spectrum, in order to exploit the benefits of convergence.

Sibal further said all key stake holders--- industry, regulator and the political class--- need to work together to benefit consumers, empower poor and restore viability of industry.

Pointing out that no business can afford to ignore India's 400 million strong upto-14 years youngsters ---more than population of USA or Europe--- who are born and brought up in ICT age , Sibal said India is already networking its 800 Universities and 24000 Colleges through Optical Fibre Cable to empower its youth.

Sibal said that although rural teledensity has risen from 1.73 per cent to 37.48 per cent over the last five years, a large unsaturated rural market consisting of 2/3rd of the country's population remains untapped by Telecom operators.

"While European markets have reached saturation with consumers demanding superior quality of products and service, Indian consumer market is far more diverse and multi-layered, comprising of not only the price sensitive,semi-literate poor class but also the rich intellectual class, which demands high quality of products and services," he added. (ANI)