NEW DELHI: The government today exhorted the telecom equipment manufacturers to ramp up their capacities to meet the burgeoning demands of the country's telecom industry.
Delivering the inaugural address at the 13th Convergence India on Tuesday, minister of state for communications and IT Dr Shakeel Ahmed said, "The industry requires about Rs 1250 billion worth of equipment and 80 to 90 per cent of this demand is met through imports. We need a strong manufacturing base in India to meet the demand."
The minister also spoke about the phenomenal growth that the telecom industry had witnessed and commented on the potential of increasing rural tele-density, at present standing at 1.7 per cent. The urban tele-density is 9.1 per cent.
Dwelling on broadband, the minister said that the target "is to have 40 million Internet and 20 million broadband subscribers over a period of years."
Speaking on the occasion, Exhibitions India MD Prem Behl said, "Our forum is a means to view the direction in which the industry is headed - both globally and locally with the user community in mind. We try and involve all the stakeholders in an attempt to benefit the entire population - both urban and rural. Affordability and accessibility of services will be the key driving force of convergence technologies in the future. More penetration will benefit the common man and change the way people live and interact."
Present at the opening ceremony today were eminent panelists from leading telecommunications companies who expressed their views on the convergence scenario. These included Anil Kumar Sinha, CMD of BSNL, Rajiv K. Sharma, president of VSAT Services Association of India, Anil Nayar, chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India, Amitabh Singhal, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India and ambassador China Sun Yux.
Convergence India provides the platform for technology discussion. It has been able to draw Indian communication industry and attracts large number of international players. Said Ben Cardwell, director, System Engineering - Asia Pacific, Andrew Corporation,"India has the potential to help the baseline technology to invest in the industry. Focus is to bring new products in the country. Hence Convergence brings the visibility of trends and a step forward to the application."
The 13th Convergence India 2005 will focus on the latest communication technologies from international and national companies. With an aim of bringing technology to business, the exhibition showcases industry leader from various sectors comprising of carriers, telecommunication, broadcast, enterprise solutions, mobile communications, customer premise equipment, satellite & space technologies, storage, convergent billing, info-security, telecommunications equipment and broadband access technologies.
Information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy will be the chief guest for the "Broadcast Technologies & Digital entertainment" session at the exhibition on March 23.
Over 307 exhibitors from over 25 countries are participating in the exhibition, which got underway today. Seminars will also be held concurrently with the exhibition on topics like access technologies, broadband and broadcasting.
Convergence India, in its 13th year, is organised by Exhibitions India, which was established in the year 1987 with an objective of being a top-class organiser of focused international trade shows and events in the country. Exhibitions India aims to be an interface between business, government, academia, society and the media.
