India Plans On Investing Rs 7 Lakh Crore To Bring Broadband Access To All Villages By 2022

Harin - Dec 18, 2019

The government wants to further digitize the country and bring universal and affordable broadband access to citizens with the National Broadband Mission.

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India has been putting its efforts in transforming itself into a digital economy. The number of mobile subscribers has reached 117 crores while the amount of consumed Internet data on average has reached around 10GB.

Now, the central government wants to further digitize the country and bring universal and affordable broadband access to all villages by launching the National Broadband Mission.

The mission, launched by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Unicom Telecom Minister, as a part of the 2018 National Digital Communications Policy. The official press release stated that the mission will:

For the next three years, bringing Internet connectivity to people in all villages will be prioritized by the government.

During the announcement, Mr. Prasad said:

Earlier, we have read about how Google has put its effort in providing Indian citizens, from cities to villages, with quality internet coverage, opening the digital door.

With this project, the Indian government, as well as private sectors, will invest Rs 7 lakh crore in the total duration of 3 to 4 years. USOF or Universal Service Obligation Fund will make a contribution of 10% to the funds whereas the rest will come from assets and towers of private players.

The mission, besides bringing affordable broadband access to Indian citizens, will also focus on some objectives. The first is to grow the optical fiber route to 50 lakh km from 22 lakh km. The second is to increase mobile towers to 10 lakh from 5.65 lakh by 2024. The third is to improve the quality of the Internet and mobile in the country significantly. This government’s mission has already seen the participation of 12 Indian states while others will join in the coming months.

Furthermore, National Broadband Mission will also promote digital entrepreneurship in the country and encourage digital services’ growth in rural areas. It will make an indirect contribution to the “Digital India” mission to create and deliver homegrown digital services that are low-cost. The larger objective is to turn India into a $5-trillion-economy.