Need to develop alternative routes to offer broadband to citizens: RS Sharma
NEW DELHI: India needs to develop alternative connectivity mechanisms to provide
broadband connectivity
to 1.4 billion Indians, with
digital public infrastructure
for
Wi-Fi systems
holding a key to the ambitious
Digital India initiative
, a top bureaucrat said Tuesday..
'Today, we are in a duopoly situation as far as the telecom infrastructure is concerned, and we have to develop certain alternative routes for providing broadband to our people. These alternative routes already exist. You have millions of kilometers of fiber (
BharatNet
). That fiber must become an ultimate source to provide connectivity to the people of this country,' Ram Sewak Sharma, former chairman,
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(Trai), said.
Sharma was speaking at the World Wi-Fi Day, organised by the Broadband India Forum.
'One of the things which was important was to create a digital public infrastructure of Wi-Fi kind of systems, because then, in 2015-16, the data was selling at about ₹275 per gigabyte,' Sharma said.
India's telecom sector offers one of the affordable data tariffs worldwide at close to Rs 8 (less than $0.10) per gigabyte (GB).
Further, he said that the government crafted a policy, and facilitated a cost-effective Wi-Fi price structure in the country.
'It essentially ensures that every citizen, whosoever, has got a smartphone will be able to access, not free, necessarily, but certainly able to access, even without having a data plan.'
India has more than 800 million smartphone users currently, corresponding to nearly 53% of the overall population.
Sharma further said that the government crafted out a policy, facilitating Wi-Fi price structure in the country so that people having smartphones could have access to it.
READ MORE | Delicensing lower 6GHz for Wi-Fi a 'necessity', industry should produce affordable devices: Jyotiraditya Scindia
BharatNet public infrastructure, according to him, could provide digital connectivity to a large number of people, with infinite capacity.
The Centre aims to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (village blocks) covering nearly 6.5 lakh villages to offer high-speed internet access through the national optical-fibre program, BharatNet, originally unveiled in 2011.
Citing an example of the European and the US markets, he said that India has one Wi-Fi hotspot per about every 40,000 individuals, and added that the number of connections should scale up.
In 2020, the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme was launched by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and aimed to enhance the proliferation of
public Wi-Fi hotspots
to create a robust digital communications infrastructure in the country, primarily in rural and semi-urban areas.
The scheme, designed by the telecom regulator, sought to offer affordable internet access while boosting employment opportunities for small and micro-entrepreneurs through the establishment of Public Data Offices (PDO).
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