5. Mr Pam said that there could be possibilities กา these lines. The network certainly needed expansion, articularly in the rural areas. He was preparing a paper for Cabinet on involving the private sector in the network. One area of interest might be the provision of new transmission technology, which would be cheaper and more dependable, in rural areas. Possibilities included micro:ave, VHF, wireless or satellite systems.
However
6. I raised the digital switching tender and GPT's interests. Mr Ram said that once they had passed the validation tests, including in ISDN, they could be considered for part of the available business. India could not import too many new technologies. had already been given a firm order and decisions would be taken on other orders in 4-6 weeks' time.
Fulitsu
7. Sir Michael raised the possibility of a seminar on telecoms in India. He also wondered whether Mr Ram might be interested in visiting Britain to see for himself the many developments in this area. Mr Ram showed some interest in this possibility. He had a daughter settled in Southend. He had also received an invitation to visit the US. He might be able to travel after the parliamentary session ended in the middle of May. Sir Michael said that he would pursue the possibility
invitation for Mr Ram in London.
of an
3
•
Sir Michael said that he would be mentioning some of these issues to the Indian Prime Minister when he called on him later in the week.
14 April 1993
J E Holmes