User:Hemasoni

The Indian telecom sector has been growing at an exponential rate – being one of the fastest growing sectors in recent times with over 494.07 million subscribers according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Wireless telephony is definitely the in thing. Even despite the slowdown 11 to 13 million new subscribers are added every month. And this explosive growth of the sector is matched only by the cutthroat competition among the players. As an industry insider revealed, “This is a high stakes game – one in which no one is willing to become the sucker, and it explains the rampant corruption in it. If any one party loses, it perversely seeks to drag its rivals into the quagmire also.” It is more or less the same story in sectors like defense and mining, which too have high stakes and high returns.

But one thing that is special to the telecom sector is that it is not just growing in size but in its scope as well. Earlier we had just GSM-based services; now there is CDMA too. And to these will shortly be added 3G and WiMax, followed by Long Term Evolution (LTE). None of these can enter till the government gives its nod, and without State involvement and intervention at practically every stage.