India pushes broadband satellite to bridge digital gap

The day is off to a pretty good start for Sayi Gharat as the 9-year-old was able to easily connect to an online science class from her grandmother’s house in Dunge village, western India. However, Sayi knew she wouldn’t be able to stay in one place due to the unstable mobile Internet connection.

Sayi’s grandmother shared: “Sometimes the internet is good, sometimes it’s laggy, causing Sayi to move from room to room, corner to corner, and even go out.”.

Two years on, Sayi is back in school, but still having to study online is still a challenge for her and tens of millions of other students in rural India because of weak internet connections. According to the telecommunications regulator, there are more than 800 million Internet subscribers in the country of 1.3 billion people. However, in rural India, only about 38% of the population is connected to the Internet.

The government has made building global broadband a priority in its Digital India program to improve governance through technology, with projects like Bharat Net rural broadband aiming to connect approx. 650,000 villages nationwide. However, “mingling” with the digital world continues to be a challenge for most of rural India, due to delays in implementation and lack of digital accessibility.

This may now change due to recent policy moves by the government, including easier approval for broadband satellite network deployments and the launch of broadband satellites from other platforms. platform of telecommunications brands Bharti Airtel and Jio (India), satellite Internet company Starlink of US billionaire Elon Musk and others.

Ms. Mansi Kedia, a fellow at the Indian Council of International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and an expert in telecommunications and the Internet, said that with the saturation of urban markets, suppliers services are increasingly interested in increasing the number of subscribers in rural areas. However, connectivity in rural areas should not be limited to fiber optic technology and mobile communications. As a result, broadband satellite solutions are seen as most likely to operate in rural areas – which can help secure connectivity at a much lower cost.

India has one of the lowest mobile data rates globally, making wireless mobile the majority of the country’s 834 million Internet subscribers. Only about 24 million subscribers have a fixed Internet connection. Besides government programmes, private sector philanthropic initiatives have also helped build connectivity and increase digital literacy in rural areas.

Airjaldi, a company specializing in providing low-cost broadband wireless networks in India, said that the COVID-19 epidemic has caused an increasing demand for Internet connectivity in rural areas because people want to access education or care. medical care. AirJaldi, which has partnered with big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft on internet projects, says it now has more than 200,000 users in about 1,500 villages in India, including some that were not previously have a mobile connection.

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