Telecom investments pegged at Rs 5 lakh crore in 2012-2017

With mobile subscribers growing at the pace of over 15 million every month, the telecom sector is likely to witness huge investments to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore in the next five years plans (2012-2017).

Of this, the two telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL are expected to make investments to the tune of Rs one lakh crore during the five years to ramp up their telecom infrastructure.

Private players, on the other hand, are expected to invest Rs 4 lakh crore during the same period (2012-2017) in expanding their infrastructure.

This is contained in an internal note of the Department of Telecom which says the total investment in telecom infrastructure is pegged at Rs five lakh crore (USD 110 billion) during the 12th Plan period, starting April 2012.

The total number of telecom subscribers is projected to grow from the present 780 million to 1,200 million during the 12th Plan. About 25% (roughly 300 million) would be 3G/4G subscribers, which would require scaling up the infrastructure.

About Rs 2.85 lakh crore is estimated to be invested in rolling out greenfield 2G, 3G/4G and WiMax networks, while Rs 1 lakh crore would be required to set up an extra 200,000-odd telecom towers across the country.

The total investment in the pan-India broadband rollout is expected to be Rs 75,000 crore, while another Rs 40,000 crore will be invested in augmenting the transmission network.