<span style="color: #222222;">Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has said that country's telecommunications network is the second largest in the world with the most cost-effective rates. He said, this growth has been spurred by the market-friendly policies of the Union Government. Mr. Chauhan was addressing the inaugural event of International Telecommunication Union's Regional Standardization Forum for Asia and Oceania region in New Delhi today.<br />''<br />''Mr. Chauhan stressed that India's policy in the field of telecommunications formulated under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is based on three pillars of Ease of Doing Business, Ease of Living and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.<br />''<br />''The Minister said that the success of the 5G spectrum auction is a confidence vote of Industry in government policies. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid down a clear roadmap to address the digital divide. It includes taking optical fibers to all six lakh villages of the country and also covers all these villages with 4G mobile communications.<br />''<br />''Mr. Chauhan highlighted that around one lakh seventy five thousand villages are already provided with the optical fibre while around five lakh sixty thousand villages have 4G mobile facilities. He said, a multi-billion-dollar comprehensive plan has been made, which will ensure optical fibre and mobile communications in all six hundred thousand villages by 2025. AIR correspondent reports that more than 250 delegates from 20 countries are taking part in the forum.</span><br />