Chandrababu Naidu

In 1995, Chandrababu Naidu became the CM of AP and brought
drastic changes to the way a government functions. He advocated global thinking
and the use of high-speed digital communication facilities in order to find a
place in world map. He conceived the Andhra Pradesh broadband project, which
aimed to create a 1 GB pipe up to the district level and a 10-MB network up to
mandal level and 1 MB up to villages. The idea was to provide connectivity up to
the rural level for implementing e-governance applications.

Under his supervision, the DoT has connected all 1125 mandals
in the state with fiber-optic networks; a statewide area network has also been
set up connecting the Secretariat with each district headquarters. With this
dynamic leader, AP became one of the first providers of WAP services
internationally. Using information on the Internet for various programs
including tracking of cyclonic storms in the Bay of Bengal for evacuation of
people from coastal areas also made possible with Naidu's vision.