Telecom ministers and industry representatives have
promised action to improve the broadband penetration in India.
Speaking at Next Telecom
revolution-Broadband,” organized by CMAI and ISPAI, Sachin Pilot, the minister
of state for communications and IT, outlined the current strategies of the
government to improve the spread of broadband.
He promised to erase all the obstacles to
improve connectivity. There is an immediate
requirement for the huge broadband network to connect education, medical
facilities, banking and other services to the entire masses.
“This sector not only provides ample
opportunity, but also throws up the challenge to implement this in order to
reach the people who really want this (broadband services), which can help the
government to reach to them,” said Milind Deora, minister of state for
Communications and IT.
India added 2.5 million broadband users last year. Offering broadband is extensively recognized as catalyst
for the country’s economic and social development of a country.
According to World Bank, a 10 percent
increase in broadband penetration accounted for 1.38 percentage increase in per
capita GDP growth in developing economies.
India is is ready to start the second phase
of telecom revolution that involves broadband, according to Sam Pitroda advisor
to the prime minister.
Sam elaborated on some upcoming
transformations that can be seen soon in the coming times. The government is
actively going ahead with converting manual files into e files and changing
learning models and learning tools. There will be a complete makeover in the
connectivity and functioning. However, the new look is expected in coming 24
months.
The
government is recommending allocation of spectrum for broadband wireless
access to enhance broadband penetration.The prime
focus of the government is to build a new India with new business model through
broadband, to provide connectivity to various schools and colleges.
This initiative will also create
new jobs and will help in percolating the social schemes of the
government to the ‘last door’,” said R Chandrasekhar, secretary, DoT.
One concrete step of the government that
may turn around the current broadband scenario in India is to connect 250,000 panchayats through broadband. The
estimated cost is around Rs 30,000 crore.
Looking
into many ongoing developments and initiatives, it seems that broadband sector
still lacks required impetus. To identify various issues impeding growth of
broadband in the country and for facilitating deployment of robust and scalable
broadband infrastructure, there is a need to chalk out a national strategy that
provides a long-term vision and detailed plan for the growth of broadband in
the country.
By
TelecomLead.com Team
[email protected]
