5g: BharatNet, 5G Key for a digital ecosystem: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The accelerated rollout of BharatNet into remote regions, the advent of 5G services, adoption of cloud services and a central push toward an inclusive internet would erase disparities in the Indian digital ecosystem and enable a standard service quality for consumers, Union minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

Chandrasekhar was speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave 2022 held in Mumbai on Thursday.

Answering a question on the disparities in access and use of the internet among Indians, Chandrasekhar said providing a stable bandwidth and capacity remains one of the “missions on priority” for the Indian government. The rollout of 5G services, the National Data Centre and Cloud Policy, and a central push towards use of more vernacular languages on the internet would erase the class divide in today’s internet access. “There will be a common level of service quality for internet consumers. It is the need of the hour,” Chandrasekhar said.

Speaking about the explosion of innovation services and products from the Indian technology space, Chandrasekhar termed it a “new Y2K moment for Indian tech space,” referring to accelerated growth of technology-led businesses originating from India. He said the diversity of the Indian technology scene was also a bright spot on the radar.