New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Saturday announced major initiatives in the telecom sector including opening up of national long distance telephony by August 15 without any ceiling on the number of private players, ending the state monopoly of the sector.

"Recognizing the benefits of large scale competition, the government has decided to fully deregulate national long distance operations (NLDO) with no artificial restriction on the number of licenses to be issued," Vajpayee told the first state information technology (IT) minister's conference here.

The licensees for long distance telephony would have to pay an entry fee and a share of their revenue, Vajpayee said.

The prime minister said the Internet service providers (ISPs) would be allowed to set up their own landing stations by opening up submarine cable connectivity.

He said the ISPs would be allowed to set up landing stations anywhere in India in collaboration with international undersea bandwidth carriers.

He said Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) would be asked to make necessary changes in its arrangement with its international partner - flag - so as to fully utilize the existing bandwidth available in India.

He also said the government would set up a task force on long-term strategy for human resource development in IT comprising ministers of human resource development, IT and finance.