India targets 250 million phones by 2007

India's government has set a goal of 250 million telephones in the country by next year as part of its overall telecom strategy.

Communications Minister Shakeel Ahmad told lawmakers that the rising number of phones in rural areas helped India increase its nationwide teledensity to 11.76 percent as of the end of January and that 250 million phones would keep India on track to its target of 15-percent teledensity by 2010.

Ahmad's statements come at the same time the government's Economic Survey called for increased efforts to expand telecom capacity, pointing out that teledensity was 11.32 percent in 1999.

Press Trust India said the Economic Survey, which is instrumental in the crafting of the government's budget, complimented the government's efforts to eliminate bottlenecks in areas such as spectrum allocation and introduction of new radio technologies.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International