India set to have 250 mn phone users ahead of schedule

New Delhii: India is likely to achieve its target of 250 million telephone users ahead of schedule, Indian federal Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said today.

The South Asian nation will add 50 million connections in rural areas this year, and achieve 100 million users in India’s villages and smaller towns by 2010, Maran told reporters in New Delhi. The country is also preparing a plan for allocating spectrum to wireless operators for third-generation, or 3G, services, he said.

India aims to have 9 million broadband users by the end of this year, up from the current 2.7 million, with the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd accounting for 7 million users, Maran said today.

— With reporting by Chitra Somayaji in Bangalore

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