The Government is looking to bring a new broadband policy with a view to incentivising roll out in rural areas.

Broadband uptake in India has been sluggish. Broadband Commission for Digital Development, in a recent report, ranked India 145th among nearly 200 countries in terms of the percentage of individuals using the Internet and 106th in the case of mobile broadband penetration.

The roll out into rural areas has been even slower. The new Government wants to create a broadband highway in bid to push socially relevant applications such as health and education.

“We want broadband to be a right just like education and health. The policy will ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place to deal with roll out issues,” said a top Government official.

Broadband for villages The UPA Government also had a vision to make broadband access available in villages but its projects got delayed. The ₹ 20,000-crore National Optical Fibre Network, for example, an ambitious Central Government initiative to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across the country has been delayed by over two years.

The project aims to connect rural India to the mainstream with 100 Mbps broadband speeds and deliver services such as E-health, education and commerce, to name a few. But there are problems aplenty.

Operational issues and a lack of coordination between various agencies involved in the project have forced the Government to change tact. Now, a decision has been taken to roll out the network in phases.

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