Monday, April 11 2005 16:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: India will attract $ 800 million in manufacturing of telecom products and equipment during the current fiscal, Union IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said today (Apr 11, 2005).

"We are expecting investments of over $ 800 million in India by various telecom equipment manufacturers this year," Maran told reporters at the opening of a factory by Elcoteq, a Finnish contract manufacturer who supplies mobile phones to the world majors like Nokia, Alcatel and Samsung.

He said several majors including Nokia, Alcatel and LG have expressed interest to set up factories for mobile handsets and telecom equipment in India.

Maran said India would have about 100 million (10 crore) phone lines in a day or two, and the Government has set a new target of reaching 250 million phones by 2007.

"Of this, BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) and MTNL (Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd) will add about 70 to 80 million subscribers in the next three years," he said, adding India's villages were a virgin market for phone service providers as it had a teledensity of 1.6 phones per 1000.

"Cities have reached a saturation point. If the service providers have to expand their market, it has to be in rural India and they will cannibalise each other to grab the market," Maran said.

He said the Government was considering change in laws that would allow sharing of towers, of public sector BSNL, with other service providers in rural areas and help spread telephone penetration in the hinterland.