The Hindu Business Line : Free bandwidth a must for digital strides, says CM

PROVIDING free unlimited bandwidth through broadband holds the key to bridging the digital divide, according to Dr Raj Reddy, Head of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr Reddy, who addressed the 40th annual convention of the Computer Society of India (CSI) in Hyderabad via a video broadcast, said this was like providing free roads and road networks but not free cars or fuel.

While the broadband itself would be free, service providers will haveother sources of revenue such as providing necessary content and charging for them, he said.

Dr Reddy said that in a country like India, one of the challenges was to provide content that suits a large rural population, which does not know how to operate a PC. Therefore, a low-cost convergence device that can handle TV, video, Internet and entertainment functions would make a difference.

The State Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy, who inaugurated the three-day event, said many multinational and Indian IT companies were lining up to locate their centres in the State. Given the state's efforts to focus on infrastructure improvement, this augured well. The focus was not only on the IT sector but on a holistic development covering other sectors, he said.

The Government has adopted a multi-pronged approach forhuman resources development. Final-year students from about 50 engineering colleges would be trained to become industry ready, providing the necessary human resources for companies locating base in the state, Dr Reddy explained.

The CSI President, Mr Lalit Sawhney, said that though the society had made rapid strides with a membership of about 35,000 over the last 40 years since it was first set up in Hyderabad, this was a small number compared to the large number of professionals engaged in the IT sector. "We need to broadbase the role of CSI in the development of the sector and bridging the digital divide," he said.

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