Call to improve ICT facilities

"The massive expansion of mobile phones and tele-density have become an extremely poor measure of access since unlike earlier, most households now have several phones. It is a rare that a mobile user does not have a fixed line at home," said Mahesh Uppal, director of Telecommunications and Computer Information Systems, a Delhi-based company.

"According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) figures, India had about 76.53 million phones in March 2004, of which less than 13 million phones were in rural areas," added Uppal.