The Prime Minister emphasised the urgent need for measures to bridge the rural-urban divide in telecommunications. Addressing a function on India Telecom 2013 in New Delhi today, Dr Singh said, with a rural tele-density of just over 40%, there are millions of people in the rural economy whose lives still remain untouched by the telecom revolution.

The Prime Minister said the Government is aware of the need for expansion of telecom services in the rural areas. One of the key objectives of the National Telecom Policy 2012 is to increase rural tele-density to 70% by the year 2017 and 100% by the year 2020. The Policy also recognizes telecom and broadband connectivity as a basic necessity and aims to provide reliable and affordable broadband access to rural and remote areas in the country.

Dr. Singh said, the Government remains committed to facilitating further growth of the telecom sector. He said, Centre attempted to simplify the licensing regime, and to ensure adequate availability of spectrum for provision of telecom services and its allocation in a transparent manner through market-related processes. It has also raised the Foreign Direct Investment limit in the telecommunications sector from 74% to 100%.
Dr Singh said, India needs to develop a strong domestic manufacturing base in electronics and telecommunications. It is estimated that by 2020, India will be importing electronics products worth about 300 billion dollars, which will be more than the value of imports of petroleum products.