MUMBAI: Though India is one of the fastest growing telephony markets in the world, the concern is to increase penetration in the rural areas which has a teledensity of just around 1.8 per cent.
Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) is holding its fourth annual international communications convergence which will address this issue. The two-day event, "Connecting India - The Global Challenge," will be held in Mumbai starting 16 March.
Addressing a press conference, IMC telecom committee co-chairman KV Seshasayee said the urban-rural divide needs to be addressed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), telecom operators and finance companies with easy funding. "There is a consumer demand in rural areas and technology has evolved to increase reach in rural areas. We can drive penetration with wireless and Wi-max technology. The focus of the event will be to debate on how rural communications can go up," he pointed out.
The event, aimed at providing a platform for government policymakers, leaders of industry and other stakeholders, expects to attract participation of over 300 Indian and foreign telecom experts. IMC has extended concessional registration facilities to students who can attend the two-day conference at a fee of Rs 300 while others will have to pay Rs 3,000.
Among the top speakers are Maharashtra's minister for Finance and Planning Jayantrao Patil, chairman of Dishnet Wireless Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, Telecom policy analyst strategy and policy unit, ITU, Geneva Lara Srivastava, Asia Pacific Telecommunity, Bangkok executive director Amarendra Narayan, SR Telecom Inc. regional sales director Andreas Kiefer, Bangkok, ZTE Corporation China director Technical (Marketing) Jiang Xue Feng, Technical, Ericsson India Pvt. Ltd. GM Bo Ribbing and SingTel India country director Arun Dagar.
The Indian experts participating in the seminar include Motorola India Pvt. Ltd regional manager Avinash Bector, Government of India USF administrator Shantanu Consul, Supreme Court advocate Pavan Duggal and Telecom consultant S Ramani Iyer.
