January 9, 2004: A new Indian record created for party-line group size!
A 15-member party-line telephone group created in AP. Two Self Help Groups of women agricultural labour in Cherla Patelguda village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal, R.R.District, Andhra Pradesh, are very happy that they now have telephones in their homes, after paying no upfront installation costs, and for a low monthly rental of only Rs. 30. For more details on this deployment click here

July 24, 2003: Union Minister Arun Shourie appoints a three-member BSNL committee to study feasibility of Gram-Phone project. For the Foundation's public policy recommendations made to the committee click here for the Powerpoint Presentation  

June 27, 2003: The Foundation which began experimenting a year ago in Warangal district with the Gram-phone project to bridge the digital divide, proposes an affordable, revenue increasing, flat-rate calling plan for rural party-lines.    Click here for the press kit

April 30, 2003: National Law School, Bangalore completes a detailed survey of the Gram-phone pilot project.    Click here to download the full report

April 9, 2003: Indian Parliament discusses the viability of Gram-phone in rural India. Government of India has an open mind to replicating the pilot project to other areas.
Click here for more details.

September 30, 2002: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sri Digvijay Singh reviews Gram-phone project at TIE Silicon Valley office. Click here for a detailed Press Release.

September 13, 2002: First Successful Deployment of low-cost Gram-Phones
Rural telecom foundation achieves major breakthrough in low-cost telephony. First deployment village in AP provides telephone access to over seventy percent of the residences.
Click here for a detailed Press Release.

January 2002: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Awards Fellowship to the Foundation
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Sri Digvijay Singh awards fellowships to Mr. Sashi Kumar and Mr. Madan Mohan Rao, both co-founders of Rural Telecom Foundation. The purpose of the fellowships is to study the feasibility of deploying low-cost and affordable telephony in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh state.
November 2001: Digital Partners Conference
Rural Telecom Foundation attends "India Telecom" in New Delhi organized by Digital Partners, a nonprofit organizations based out of Seattle, USA.

September 2001: Phase 1 Completion of the Parvathagiri Initiative
First phase of the Rural Telecom Foundation sponsored Parvathagiri Mandal project completed. As a result of the Foundation's initiative Parvathagiri exchange active lines goes from 290 in November 2000 to approximately 1200. Parvathagiri Mandal is a local administration area of a dozen villages in Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh state, India.

February 2001: Parvathagiri Mandal Initiative
Rural Telecom Foundation launches a new initiative to increase teledensity in a pilot area of a dozen villages in Parvatagiri Mandal, Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh state, India.

November 2000: Stanford Conference
Rural Telecom Foundation presents a policy paper titled, "Micro-Surveys of Rural Telecom in India and USA, and its Implications for India’s Public Policy" at the November 10, 2000, "Telecom in India" Conference at the Asia Pacific Research Center, Stanford University in California, USA.
To view the Policy Paper presented by the Foundation in PDF format, click here.
To see the Powerpoint Presentation made at Stanford, click here.

August 2000: Emerging Market Forum