The government today said total foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector since 2007-08 till August this year stood at Rs 33,957 crore.
"The total FDI inflow in Telecom sector during the past three years and the current year (April-August 2010) stands at Rs 33,957 crore," Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The FDI stood at Rs 5,103 crore in 2007-08, Rs 11,727 crore in 2008-09, Rs 12,338 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 4,789 crore in April-August 2010 period, he added.
Responding to another question, Pilot said the number of BlackBerry connections stood at 10.33 crore as on September 30, 2010.
This is against a userbase of 9.59 crore users in 2007-08, 13.06 crore in 2008-09 and 19.25 crore users in 2009-10.
To another query, the minister said a pilot project of a Centralised Monitoring System (CMS) is likely to be started in about three months from the approval by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
CMS is will strengthen the security environment in the country as it will help central and state level law enforcement agencies to intercept and monitor communication.
Asked if the government was taking steps to revive state-owned Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Ltd, Pilot said, "The government has decided to continue the policy of reserving 30 per cent work orders for BSNL and MTNL for a further period of two years."
ITI incurred losses of Rs 356 crore (in 2007-08), Rs 662 crore (in 2008-09), Rs 459 crore (in 2009-10) and Rs 124 crore (upto September 2010).
Pilot added that the company has also set up joint ventures (JVs) and special purpose vehicles (SPVs)for manufacturing new products like WiMax equipment, apart from discharging liabilities to the tune of Rs 2,820 crore from ITI's balance sheets.
