As of April 2024, 95.15 p.c of villages in India have entry to the web with 3G/4G cellular connectivity, the Ministry of Communications (MoC) stated in an announcement on Friday. The federal government emphasised that Common Connectivity and Digital India initiatives are reaching all areas, together with tier-2 and tier-3 cities and villages.
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Digital India Initiative
Below the Digital India Initiative, the federal government stated it has undertaken a number of initiatives to attach not solely metros but additionally tier-2 and tier-3 cities, in addition to rural and distant areas. The Ministry highlighted that the full variety of web subscribers elevated from 251.59 million as of March 2014 to 954.40 million in March 2024.
As of March 2024, out of a complete of 954.40 million web subscribers in India, there are 398.35 million rural web subscribers. Moreover, as of April 2024, out of 644,131 villages within the nation (as per knowledge from the Registrar Common of India), 612,952 villages have 3G/4G cellular connectivity. Thus, 95.15 p.c of villages have entry to the web, the Communications Ministry defined.
BharatNet Mission
Highlighting the BharatNet venture, which goals to attach all Gram Panchayats (GPs) within the nation with optical fiber cable (OFC) connectivity to supply broadband companies to rural households, the Ministry said that out of a complete of 222,000 Gram Panchayats envisioned beneath the 2 phases of BharatNet, 213,000 have been made service-ready.
Growth of Rural Web Entry
The amended BharatNet program goals to supply optical fiber connectivity to 42,000 uncovered GPs and the remaining 384,000 villages on a requirement foundation, in addition to to supply 15 million rural house fiber connections, the federal government stated.
“A complete of 35,680 uncovered villages/habitations within the nation are being lined beneath the continuing USOF schemes. All these villages/habitations are positioned in rural, distant, inaccessible areas and are in tough terrain similar to hilly areas and dense forests. Below numerous USOF-funded schemes, round 9,000 uncovered villages have been supplied with 4G connectivity, at an expenditure of about 11,000 crore,” it stated.
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Enhancements in Broadband Pace
The Ministry famous that the final 10 years have seen an enormous enlargement of the telecom community protecting all corners of Bharat, together with tier-2/3 cities and villages. This enlargement has resulted in a better definition of broadband velocity, with speeds better than or equal to 2 Mbps, in addition to a rise within the common obtain velocity to 105.85 Mbps as of March 31, 2024, in accordance with Ookla Pace Take a look at.
Knowledge Prices
The Ministry additionally highlighted the lower in common knowledge value per GB to Rs 9.18 as of March 31, 2024, from Rs 268.97 as of March 31, 2014, underscoring the affordability of companies. This has additionally led to a rise in common knowledge consumption from 0.26 GB in 2014 to twenty.27 GB in 2024.
