Cable TV networks to take Internet to remote areas of India
According to a news report by Times of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have proposed to provide people in rural India with access to broadband services through cable television networks. This is in line with the effort by the government to boost rural connectivity.
The proposal was relayed in a meeting by the ministry and TRAI with service providers in mid-December. TRAI Chairman, Mr Ram Sewak Sharma cited an example of how the solution has been implemented in South Korea. Describing how the transition to broadband will happen, Sharma said that there will be a simple migration at the consumer’s end using a new set-top box whereas the configurations at the service provider’s end will be facilitated by the engineering arm of the ministry.
According to the 2011 India census, rural India with an estimated population of 918 million, has only 186 million Internet users leaving out 732 million potential users.
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