Broadband access in all villages by 2022: Prasad

The Centre on Thursday said all villages in the country will have broadband access by 2022.

Announcing this during the launch of National Broadband Mission (NBM) here, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the NBM will facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in rural and remote areas.

The mission involved laying of incremental 30 lakh route km of Optical Fiber Cable and an increase in tower density from 0.42 to 1 tower per thousand of the population by 2024.

Claiming that the mission proposes to increase the quality of mobile and internet services, the Minister said number of towers in the country will increase to increased to 10 lakh from 5.65 lakh. The mission also envisages increasing fiberisation of towers to 70 % from 30 % at present, he added.

The mission will enable strengthening of technological infrastructure for education, health, entrepreneurship and development, he said."We will also take the speeds up to 50 Mbps is a phased manner," Prasad promised.

The mission will envisage stakeholder investment of Rs 7 lakh crore including Rs 70,000 crore from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) in the coming years.

The NBM aims to fast-track growth of digital communications infrastructure, bridge the digital divide, facilitate digital empowerment and inclusion, and provide affordable and universal access of broadband for all.