Mukesh Ambani is Telecom Man of the Year 2004

Recognizing his contribution to the Indian telecom industry, Reliance Infocomm CMD Mukesh Ambani has been given the coveted Voice & Data Telecom
Man of the Year 2004 award. This was announced by the Union minister of state for
communications and IT Dr Shakeel Ahmad at the annual V&D100 Awards ceremony held in New Delhi.

Ambani was chosen Telecom Man of the Year for 2003-04 by a panel of eminent telecom professionals for his vision andÂ
efforts, which helped transform the telecom sector and the lives of millions of Indians by making the masses a
part of India's telecom revolution. On being named the Telecom Man of the Year, he said, "It is wishes from people and the industry that
make us strive harder in making the telecom services more affordable for the masses
of the country and leapfrog our country on the international information technology superhighway."

The Telecom Man of the Year awards is a recognition of the impact that a person has had on the telecom industry in the last
fiscal year, by: leading the technological innovations, increasing the subscriber base, and affecting
the tariffs and the speed with which new services and networks are rolled out. 

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ahmad said that Indian telecom industry has come a long way and now its time for the country
to be the nerve center for the world. He added that though a host of telecom services are being
provided in the country - from  he vanilla telecom applications to cutting edge
Wi-Fi hotspots, however connecting different villages continues to be  an uphill task. 

"These fruits of telecom revolution should reach the village population as well. We need to increase the tele-density of the
country and that's how we can accelerate the process of bridging the digital divide," he informed. HeÂ
also called upon the industry to raise the quality of service (QoS) in telecom.

The V&D100 Awards were presented for 25 categories based on the magazines
annual survey exercise. In the service providers category, the award for the top cellular service provider went to Bharti Tele-Ventures, while Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was adjudged that Top Fixed Access Service Provider. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) was awarded as
the Top ILD Operator, BSNL as the Top Internet Service Provider and HCL Comnet as the
Top NMS Provider. 

The award for the Top VSAT Service Provider went to HCL Comnet, while HP India was adjudged the Top Network
Storage Company. BSNL was awarded as the Top NLD Service Provider and Top Telecom Service Provider. 

TCS won the award for the Top Telecom Software Company, while ITI Ltd won an award for the Top Turnkey Services
Company. Datacraft India was adjudged the Top Network Integrator and ASC Enterprises the Top Radio Trunking
Operator. 

In the Equipment Vendors category Tata Telecom was awarded as the Top Voice Solutions Company and Cisco Systems as
the Top Enterprise Equipment Company and Top WLAN Company. 

The award for the Top Telephone Vendor went to Bharti Teletech, while LG Electronics India received the award for the Top Mobile Phone Vendor.

MRO-Tek was adjudged the Top Modem Company, Systimax Solutions the Top Structured Cabling Company and Nokia
India the Top Telecom Equipment Company. Sterlite Optical was adjudged the Top Telecom Cables Company and
Ericsson India the Top Infrastructure Vendor. Hughes Network Systems India received the award for being the Top VSAT Equipment
Company and Agilent Technologies India for Top T&M Company.

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