On Wednesday Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad announced that the Indian government will be providing optical fibre connections to 6.5 lakh villages. The minister also added how the country’s strong internet and communication infrastructure helped the country function efficiently during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
Mr. Prasad’s statement came during the Lok Sabha proceedings where he was asked a question by Sanjay Jaiswal. Mr. Prasad talked about that the National Broadband Mission launched in 2019. The NBM is a country-level mission that envisions increased growth of digital communication infrastructure along with bridging the divide between digital empowerment and inclusion. The NBM also aims to provide inexpensive and universal access to broadband to each and every single Indian citizen.
Under the NBM, the government will be spending Rs. 70,000 crores through its Universal Service Obligation Fund.
“This is the communication strategy of the Modi government to provide optical fibre connection to 6.5 lakh villages. The country was kept going by the Information Technology mobile infrastructure during COVID-19 lockdown period.”
He also added, “As far as school education is concerned, most of the school education went digital…Most of the schools continued because of digital education being encouraged.”
Meanwhile, the communications ministry has given some crucial data about Indian government’s efforts to connect each individual and how far along it is from its aim. As of today, the total mobile internet users across the country are more than 116.3 crores. But on the flip side, there are 25,000 villages in India of the total 5.97 lakh villages that still lack mobile or internet connectivity.
According to communications ministry, Odisha is leading the list of having the most number of villages that do not have mobile internet (6099 villages). Arunachal Pradesh, that has a sensitive border, is also suffering with 73% of its villages without internet connectivity (2223). Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are also topping the list of states with villages that do not have internet or mobile connectivity with 2612 and 2328 villages respectively.
Another crucial piece of data suggests that out of 5,96,618 villages in India, a total of 5,72,551 villages have mobile and internet connectivity for their citizens. The information came from telecom providers that aggregated the numbers as they were asked about the availability of mobile connectivity in Indian villages by the telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
So far, the Modi government has come out with multiple plans under the Universal Service Obligation Fund to connect these villages with internet and mobile connectivity. From LWE Phase-1, Phase-2 projects, to Border Area Villages Scheme, to the Aspirational Districts scheme, the government has announced multiple schemes so far. This also includes the commissioning of the submarine optical fibre connectivity from Andaman Nicobar to Chennai, Kochi to Lakshadweep Island and launching the BharatNet Phase-1 and Phase-2 plans.
On 15th August 2020, during the India’s Independence Speech, Indian Prime Minister announced that every single village in the country would see itself be connected with optical fibre internet over the course of the next 3 years. “In the coming 1000 days, every village in the country will be connected with optical fibre cable,” Mr. Modi said, addressing the nation on Independence Day.
The Indian Prime Minister also highlighted the fact that before him being elected, only 60 panchayats in India were connected with optical fibre. He then said that since 2014, over 1.5 lakh panchayats were connected with the optical fibre.
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