Govt to benefit poor with telecom, R&D

To boost the dual process, fresh norms on telecom equipment manufacturing would be out this month, which would cover BSNL and MTNL. This would focus on indigenisation and lowering cost of production and use, Sarma said. ‘‘Manufacturing in India means indigenisation, which would form a part of the guidelines,’’ he said.

‘‘Production must happen in India. Around 53 per cent of our operators’ revenues, or about $9 billion, goes towards import of equipment every year. This has to change,’’ he said.

India has set a target of adding 15 crore phones by 2007, and currently has 10 crore phones. Most of the additions are likely to be mobile phones.

‘‘It has been demonstrated that 10 new mobile phones for every 100 people means the GDP increases by 0.6 percentage points. The average spend on telecom in a rural area is 2 per cent of monthly expenditure. Low-cost phones, in the $20-25 range (Rs 1,000-1,100) are a must to achieve the target,’’ Sarma said.

On the R&D front, Sarma said patents filed by Indians have increased from 4,000 in 1995 to 15,000 last year, apart from those pending approval at the USPTO. He said patenting, product development, production and marketing leads to surplus generation and further investments. This process needs adoption by private firms.

‘‘Less than 1 per cent of India’s GDP goes into R&D, to which the private sector contributes only 15-20 per cent. In China, nearly 1.1 per cent of GDP is channelised into R&D, and 2.5 to 3.0 per cent in developed markets, where private sector contributes more than half of the overall R&D,’’ he said.

The TI chip handles 2,370 cellphones, and can bring down handset manufaturers’ cost by $10-15 apiece, company officials said.