While the country is on its way to rolling out 5G services, for a real digital revolution to happen the new technology must reach people across rural India.
By Hemant Kashyap
Referring to rural India as Bharat, ONEOTT iNTERTAINMENT Limited CEO Yugal Kishor Sharma highlighted that it is unfortunate that two-thirds of the country still remain unconnected and stressed the need to connect India with high-speed broadband to ensure digital inclusion. To make his point, Sharma showed a short clip, centered around a former runaway child, called Jameel.
The clip depicted how Jameel made making shoes his livelihood by first learning to make them on the internet and then selling the shoes on the internet, as well. Speaking at the Voice&Data 5G Conference he also said that India’s true social inclusion can come only with digital inclusion.
Pointing to the rural connectivity, and the lack thereof, he said that the government and the telecom sector are moving towards ensuring digital inclusion in the country. Furthermore, he said that till now, the sector has sorted out India’s voice and mobile internet problems. He said that the next-generation technology – 5G – will make digital inclusion even better.
However, he said that the country now needs fiberized internet in every village. Pointing to the BharatNet project, Sharma added that the government is looking to connect every village with fiber by 2024. He likened the transformation in the transport sector and widespread electrification of the late 20th century to fiberization, calling it the information superhighway.
He said that the Hinduja Group has been working on connecting the unconnected in India. He concluded by saying that, “Internet for every villager will be the reason for their transformation,” calling to the applications and services related to rural areas.
hemantka@cybermedia.co.in