India has 955 million mobile subscribers, says Telecom Minister

As many as 955 million mobile phone connections have been taken by India’s 1.2 billion population, Lok Sabha was informed. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said this was a reflection on how much the mobile phone network has expanded in the country. “There were 30 core internet connections in the country till last year which was more than the United States and next to China. In the use of smartphones, India is next only to the US,” the Minister said during question hour. He said the Telecom Ministry was implementing the Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme and its objectives included research and development of language technologies, software tools and applications for Indian languages, proliferation of language technology products and solutions. Another objective of the programme was to develop standards for linguistic resources, tools and applications for inter-operability. The Minister said under the TDIL programme, CDs containing software tools. PTI