February 21, 2002

'24'

INTERNET TELEPHONY RECOMMENDATIONS OF TRAI BEING STUDIED BY DOT - SHRI MAHAJAN

MINISTRY INVITES SUGGESTIONS ON INTERNET TELEPHONY

GOVERNMENT CONSTITUTES RS. 10 CRORE SPECIAL CORPUS FUND TO PROMOTE

EXPORT ACTIVITIES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM I.T COMPANIES

    Union Minister, of Communications, Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Pramod Mahajan has said that the Department of Telecommunications was studying the recommendations of TRAI on internet telephony. It was expected that a view in this regard would be taken within a week’s time. Shri Mahajan called upon the people to give their suggestions on the proposed policy to the Department. It may be added that the Department had already invited comments from interested parties as the policy would have an important impact on all categories of telecom service providers. Elaborating further, the Minister said that 1st of April, 2002 would stand out as a landmark for the telecom revolution in India as it would take it into the next generation of growth with all telecom services being free from all restrictions. Shri Mahajan stated this while delivering the valedictory address at the India Export Awards of Electronics and Computer Software (!ESC) Export Promotion Council, here today.

    The Minister also announced the setting up of a Special Corpus Fund of Rs. 10 crore for facilitating the growth of small and medium IT companies. From the interest that would accrue from the Fund, SMEs would be encouraged to participate in various export promotion activities in unexplored countries and markets. The Fund would be utilised for building awareness in foreign markets, to highlight their capabilities for conducting market studies/surveys, participation in Exhibitions / Conferences and road shows. 

    Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mahajan said that the Information Technology revolution today had created a borderless, distanceless and languageless world. He called upon the participants to devise business and marketing strategies to increase India’s share in global software trade. It was also suggested to bring about value addition to product and services and focus on untapped and unexplored markets. By tapping the potential available in such markets, the over dependence on certain markets not only decreased, it gave a new vision and direction to business and export strategies. The Minister also spoke on the initiatives undertaken in the IT and telecom sector by the Government in recent months and said that in the next two years, the attempt and vision would be to set up world class infrastructure facilities.