The government said that it would formulate policies that would bring down the prices of mobile phone handsets further and encourage the industry to innovate. "The country is adding more than two million mobile phone subscribers a month. To maintain and accelerate this growth we will formulate policies that bring down the prices of handsets further and encourage the industry to innovate," Secretary in the Department of Telecom J.S. Sarma said after inaugurating the second Mobile Expo in New Delhi.

Indian Cellular Association, an association of handset vendors, and Confederation of Indian Industry is organizing the expo.

At present, there are 65 million mobile phone subscribers in India. The government has a target of 200 million mobile phone users by 2007 and that would require the subscriber base to grow even faster.

Sarma said India should become a manufacturing hub for mobile phones. "There are about 29 mobile manufacturers in the world and I hope that majority of them set up their units in India in the coming years," he said, adding that a good beginning had already been made by Nokia which would start manufacturing handsets in April next year.

Apart from Nokia, LG is also setting up a mobile phone handset manufacturing facility in India.

( www.hindustantimes.com)