Rural Telecom Foundation’s mission is to support a fast-track public policy that will rapidly improve rural telecom access. This policy must lead to a decentralized rural telecom industry structure that is high-quality, rapidly-scalable, reliable, financially sustainable, and manageable at the Block/Mandal or village level.

Rural Telecom Foundation is committed to-

• Creating a situation where telecom is no longer perceived as the “Missing Link”


• Seeing that the people of India can fulfill 99% of their telecommunication requirements with less than 5% of their incomes


• Increasing the minutes of usage per person per day on par with those of advanced countries


• Creating niche licensing at the SDCA ((Short Distance Charging Areas) level


• See SDCA (Either a Taluka/District/SSA-Secondary Switch Area) as a free local call area based on rent alone


• Seeing mobile telephony and landline as complimentary services and not as substitutes


• Providing value added services to rural population


• Making internet broadband services free (subsidized from Universal Service Obligation Fund) for schools, hospitals and libraries in rural areas


• Training rural women for livelihoods based on information technology kiosks


• Gender equity in communications - seeing to it that more and more women start using phones


• Regulatory capture issues


• Competition


• Liberal licensing regime