Press Information Bureau, Government of India
In India, telephone service was first introduced in Kolkata
in 1881-82, barely six years after the invention of telephone. The first
automatic telephone exchange was commissioned at Shimla in 1913-14 with a
capacity of 700 lines.
The telecommunication services have improved significantly
with the sector witnessing a series of reform measures that included,
announcement of National Telecom Policy in 1994 that defined certain important
objectives, including availability of telephone on demand, provision of world
class services at reasonable prices, ensuring India’s emergence as major
manufacturing / export base of telecom equipment and universal availability of
basic telecom services to all villages. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),
the independent regulator, was established in 1997 and New Telecom Policy was
announced in 1999, which further laid stress on providing an enabling framework
for the development of this sector and to facilitate India’s vision of
developing a world class telecom infrastructure in the country. Since then,
Indian telecom sector has come a long way in achieving its dream of providing
affordable and effective communication facilities to its citizens.
