India's telecom regulator TRAI has been declared 'Asia Pacific's Regulator of the Year 2004' for creating a regulatory environment that allowed rapid growth and investment in the sector.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India received the award at the Frost & Sullivan Technology awards in Singapore.

While reducing uncertainty and discord, the initiatives of TRAI in the area of unified licensing, internet, broadband and other areas were recognised in the process, a TRAI statement said.

The panel also recognised TRAI's forward-looking policies which have brought about greater stability in the Indian telecom market.

"We have already seen the results of the new policy in the last 12 months. The Indian wireless market is now adding close to 2 million subscribers a month. The stage is now set for an explosive growth in the Indian telecommunications industry over the next few years," Aroop Zutshi, president, Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacific said.

"This is a vindication of the policies of TRAI which focus on promoting rapid growth with affordable prices and extensively improving the scope and coverage of telecom services," Harsha V Singh, secretary, TRAI said after receiving the award.

TRAI aims to further improve the already impressive growth performance of the industry and combine that dynamism with initiatives in other areas such as internet and broadband, he said.