Taking note of constraints faced by telecom companies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the government was working on releasing additional spectrum for commercial use by telecom operators to facilitate the sector's expansion.
"We are working steadily towards the issue of releasing spectrum from government use for the use of commercial telecom operators so that the growth of the dynamic sector is not constrained by the shortage of this vital resource," he said, addressing the inaugural function of the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.
The Prime Minister also stressed on the need for a forward-looking approach for "convergence" (offering telecom and broadcast services on a single platform).
"Convergence has its own logic and government policy must be mindful of ground realities. No poicy can be effective if it is not in step with market and technological realities," Singh said.
Expressing concern over the wide gap between rural and urban tele-density, he said while the country has achieved impressive growth overall, the penetration in rural areas is still quite low with a tele-density of less than two per thousand.
"Most of the growth in the past has been from urban areas. If we have to double the subscriber base in the next two years it would be a far more difficult exercise than in the past, if we have to depend largely on urban market for fuelling this growth," he said.
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