Planned foreign investment in India's booming telecommunications and information technology sector is expected to double to $22 billion in 2006 as global majors increasingly focus on the country, its IT minister said Wednesday.
"The world is starting to look at India seriously," Dayanidhi Maran said.
Almost $9 billion in planned investment has been announced this year, including $3 billion by SemIndia and chipmaker AMD, $1.7 billion by Microsoft and more than $1 billion each by Intel and Cisco Systems.
"The last three or four investments have come from the United States. So this is very significant for us--when companies like Cisco, AMD, Intel and Microsoft are looking at India seriously.
"They are the top of the food chain," he said.
Almost all global telecommunications equipment majors, including Ericsson, Nortel Networks and Nokia, have made a beeline to Asia's third-largest economy, also the world's fastest-growing major mobile market.
But Maran said he also wants to see more European and Japanese companies in the investment mix.
"Europe has still yet to invest, except for Nokia and Ericsson. We (also) want Japanese companies to start coming and investing in India. They are looking at it very seriously," he said.
Maran expects the number of new wireless subscribers in India to hit between 4 million and 5 million a month in early 2006.
India has 72 million mobile users, more than the population of Italy, having added 3.49 million in November, up from 2.73 million in August.
The user base is set to soar because carriers such as Bharti Tele-Ventures are expanding their networks into untapped rural areas where more than two-thirds of the billion-plus population lives.
"Now the growth has to shift base to rural areas--it is inevitable," Maran said.
Falling prices of handsets, partly due to local manufacturing by players such as LG Electronics, are also fueling high demand.
Mobile services have emerged as the fastest-growing component of the booming economy as the cheapest call rates anywhere--less than 2 cents a minute--lure users.
Yet even more than a decade after their launch, less than a third of India's territory comes under the mobile umbrella.
Maran said the government had made no decision on merging its Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), India's top telecommunications firm by sales, and state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL).
"That door is still open. But I think we are trying to first now go into expansion mode," he said. "We are still looking into it, but we'll be taking a decision after the expansion program."
BSNL had suggested to the government that it acquire MTNL.
Maran also sees strong growth in business services and IT, saying an industry study forecasting 28 percent growth a year to $60 billion in exports by 2010 may be too conservative.
"I think this growth (forecast) for the IT sector should be definitely more bullish," he said.
"The world is starting to look at India seriously," Dayanidhi Maran said.
Almost $9 billion in planned investment has been announced this year, including $3 billion by SemIndia and chipmaker AMD, $1.7 billion by Microsoft and more than $1 billion each by Intel and Cisco Systems.
"The last three or four investments have come from the United States. So this is very significant for us--when companies like Cisco, AMD, Intel and Microsoft are looking at India seriously.
"They are the top of the food chain," he said.
Almost all global telecommunications equipment majors, including Ericsson, Nortel Networks and Nokia, have made a beeline to Asia's third-largest economy, also the world's fastest-growing major mobile market.
But Maran said he also wants to see more European and Japanese companies in the investment mix.
"Europe has still yet to invest, except for Nokia and Ericsson. We (also) want Japanese companies to start coming and investing in India. They are looking at it very seriously," he said.
Maran expects the number of new wireless subscribers in India to hit between 4 million and 5 million a month in early 2006.
India has 72 million mobile users, more than the population of Italy, having added 3.49 million in November, up from 2.73 million in August.
The user base is set to soar because carriers such as Bharti Tele-Ventures are expanding their networks into untapped rural areas where more than two-thirds of the billion-plus population lives.
"Now the growth has to shift base to rural areas--it is inevitable," Maran said.
Falling prices of handsets, partly due to local manufacturing by players such as LG Electronics, are also fueling high demand.
Mobile services have emerged as the fastest-growing component of the booming economy as the cheapest call rates anywhere--less than 2 cents a minute--lure users.
Yet even more than a decade after their launch, less than a third of India's territory comes under the mobile umbrella.
Maran said the government had made no decision on merging its Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), India's top telecommunications firm by sales, and state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL).
"That door is still open. But I think we are trying to first now go into expansion mode," he said. "We are still looking into it, but we'll be taking a decision after the expansion program."
BSNL had suggested to the government that it acquire MTNL.
Maran also sees strong growth in business services and IT, saying an industry study forecasting 28 percent growth a year to $60 billion in exports by 2010 may be too conservative.
"I think this growth (forecast) for the IT sector should be definitely more bullish," he said.