Close on the heels of slashing the telephone registration charges by 33 percent from $66.67 to $44.4 for urban subscribers, the government said Monday it planned to further reduce charges to $22.2 in future. This is an effort to boost the creation of an "information society," say the government sources.

"We are looking at further reduction in telephone registration charge to $22.2 as part of plans to achieve telephone on demand targets by March 2002," communication minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

"We would like to reduce the charges further. However, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) at present is not equipped to handle the demand that this would entail," Paswan added.

This announcement came along with a slew of other consumer-friendly measures, which ranged from the simplification of the forms for new connections to retailing virtual calling cards (VCCs) at public places like hospitals.

Paswan also added that a status paper on the maximum time required for installing a new telephone in different areas of the country was also being worked upon.

High telecom charges have been cited as one hindrance to wider use of the Internet in India.

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