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Units 1980-81 1993-94
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Postal Services
Post Offices '000 nos 139 153
Rural '000 nos 125 136
Urban '000 nos 14 16
Telecom Services
Direct exchange lines mln 2.2 8.0
Telephone waiting list mln 0.4 2.4
Telephone metered calls bln. units 8.5 46.7
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As of March 1995, the country had a network of 9.8 million telephone connections served by 20,000 telephone exchanges, of which 92% were electronic exchanges. The number of metered calls increased at the rate of 11% per annum during the eighties. The calls increased to 28% in 1991-92 and 31% in 1992-93.
The National Telecom Policy announced in May 1994 has set a target of 10 million phone connections, and of hooking up all villages. New guidelines for tender norms for basic services and cellular mobile services were announced by the Department of Telecommunications on 14th January 1995.
In August 1995, the Lok Sabha passed a bill ammending the Indian Telegraph act 1885, paving the way for setting up a Telecom Regulatory Authourity of India. The TRAI will have well defined functions, responsibilities and powers to function as the watchdog of the telecom sector. The terms of reference inter alia include standard setting, price regulation, ensuring technical compatibility among different service providers, facilitating revenue sharing arrangement between the DOT and private operators and fixation of access charges. TRAI would be a non-statutory body to begin with and report directly to the ministry of communications.
The number of post offices grew impressively by 8% per annum during the fifties. Post offfices in the rural areas increased at a higher rate of 8.5% per annum during the period. The postal growth in the sixties and seventies matched the growth in urban population. The progress of postal services remained relatively weak during 1980s. While growth in services sector was 6.3% per annum in the 1980s, the growth in post offices was only 0.7% per annum.
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Bombay
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Last updated: August 1995.