Tough times for the telecommunications industry are over, and the Government's futuristic policy will provide a boost to the growth of the sector by addressing investors' concerns, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed.

The Indian telecommunications industry suffered troubles due to regulatory uncertainty, such as indecision on spectrum prices, but the government recently laid down rules for determining spectrum prices in the future.

Addressing the India Telecom 2012 conference on Thursday, Mr. Singh said, "This sector has had to face some tough challenges in the past months. However, I believe that under the distinguished leadership of Kapil Sibal, the period of difficulties is now coming to an end."

Mr. Singh noted that while urban areas of the country have enjoyed quick penetration of telecommunications services, rural India is still lagging far behind.

The Prime Minister asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to make use of USO Fund to minimize the gap between rural and urban areas. The government's new telecom policy targets 70 per cent and 100 per cent penetration of telecom services in rural and urban areas by 2017 and 2020 respectively.

Mr. Singh also asked the public and private sectors to work productively to make sure that the National Optical Fibre Network is competently used to make broadband services accessible and affordable. The National Optical Fibre Network has been designed to provide all panchayats with broadband services.