Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
News >> Technology >>
IT contributes 2.4% to India's GDP
By siliconindia
|
Monday, 29 December 2003, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: The information technology (IT) sector employs 6.5 lakh workers and professionals directly or indirectly and makes a contribution of 2.4 per cent to India's GDP and 20.4 per cent to its exports, Rajya Sabha was informed.
Minister for Communications and Information and Technology Arun Shourie said in a written reply that five lakh route kilometers of optical fibre have been laid in the country by a number of public and private telecommunications companies to increase the bandwidth availability for Internet usage.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended the prescribed entry fee for Basic Service Operator (with or without Wireless in Local Loop facility) for migration to Unified Access Services Licence in a service area (UASL), Shourie said.
He said this prescribed entry fee is equal to the entry fee paid by the fourth Cellular Operator for that service area, or the entry fee paid by the Basic Service Operator (BSO) itself, whichever is higher.
As many as 6.67 crore telephones have been sanctioned and working in the country as on October 31, 2003, bringing the all India tele-density to 6.24, Shourie said.