India Mobile Congress 2020
Shaping Sustainable Digital Future through Telecom and Technology
10.12.2020
Here are my interventions at this event as a panellist:
A. On the subject of How Digital Communications can contribute towards the achievement of SDGs and is there any
change in perspective on account of the pandemic.
If
there is one thing that we have learned from the ongoing pandemic it would be
that digital connectivity is absolutely essential. In
a situation where you are physically separated and distanced only digital
connectivity can ensure business continuity and socio-economic stability and
growth. Work from home, study from home, shop from home, remote monitoring of
health and logistics and smart factories etc., all these are impossible without
quality connectivity.
Further,
the pandemic has also underlined that this inevitable requirement of digital
connectivity also exacerbates the implications of digital divides. The digital
have nots really suffer. The efforts of the Government to reach out and alleviate
the problems of people in crisis too can be frustrated if they are not
digitally connected.
I
can tell you that post the pandemic, there is a strong and renewed emphasis on
both tapping ICTs for better citizen services, health and education, logistics
and agriculture etc. and also on universal digital connectivity.
Even
in the absence of the pandemic, there has been a huge emphasis on digital
connectivity & ICT as is evident from the vision of Digital India and the
Government’s emphasis on digital financial inclusion, digital identity, digital
education and health, the Direct Benefit Transfer Mission and the underlying ICT
infrastructure. Now we have a new Digital Health Mission and a commitment to
connect all villages with fibre.
The
release of the National Digital Communications Policy in 2018, the emphasis on
BharatNet and the launch of the National Broadband Mission are all on account
of the clear relationship between ICTs and the achievement of SDGs be they
related to poverty or equality, health or education, employment or environment.
Telecom
penetration has multiplier effects across the economy and in an increasingly
digital future, it will be critical to enable expeditious achievement of SDGs. Each line of
action to achieve an SDG has a digital counterpart. Thus if regional
disparities are sought to be reduced by targeting 115 Aspirational Districts,
The Deptt. of Telecom has special
schemes to provide connectivity to the Aspirational Districts. This is because
ICTs are fundamental for other government efforts to fructify.
And of course all the SDGs are related. Thus, smart agriculture and logistics can help to end
hunger, digital health and education can directly impact the related SDGs but also
end poverty and reduce gender disparities. Better land and water management
through ICTs and sustainable development through smart grids can help reduce
natural disasters which otherwise aggravate poverty and inequalities.
Digital
connectivity is a great transparency enhancer and can give citizens a voice and
provide a much-needed feedback loop to inform policymaking. It can thus
empower citizens and strengthen justice.
In
particular, I am a great believer in the power of digital connectivity to
reduce inequality and bring about gender parity. We have heard of the adverse
impact of the pandemic on women. Women’s education, employment and safety can
all be greatly enhanced through digital connectivity. Even today, female
ownership of mobiles or digital literacy is very low. Further, accessible ICTs
hold great promise for persons with disabilities are needed to care for the
aged especially in situations like the ongoing pandemic.
B. On What can be Done to Hasten Connectivity?
There
are many fronts on which this problem is being tackled and can be tackled.
First
connectivity must be universal. We still have a very skewed penetration. Rural
broadband penetration lags at around 30% of the population and even teledensity is
less than 60%. Then as mentioned earlier
there is the question of equal access for women and Persons with Disabilities.
This requires affordable devices, accessible devices and digital literacy.
Second
is the quality of our broadband. We still lag behind on speed. We have an
average speed of about 12MBPS against an ambitious target in the National Broadband Mission of delivering 50 MBPS.
There
are major problems in the deployment of telecom infrastructure due to Right of Way
issues. These need to be tackled. At present less than 40% of our towers are
fiberized and we need many more towers. The national Broadband Mission aims to
almost double the number of towers. Adequate spectrum must be made available to
improve quality and allow for new
technologies and innovation.
If
we are to tap the benefits of 5G, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, augmented
reality and Virtual Reality to make use of innovative new applications across
socio-economic sectors we need to address these issues. New telecom
technologies have very different deployment architecture and the regulatory the environment must keep pace.
Then
we have an over-reliance on terrestrial communications and especially mobile broadband.
We need multi-modal connectivity for redundancy and ubiquity. We cannot expect
to provide broadband connectivity to 100% rural and remote areas through only terrestrial
means. We must strengthen and expand our satellite broadband sector.
NITI
Aayog is working with DoT to expedite the implementation of BharatNet through
Public Private Partnership which would give a greater role to the private sector
thereby also ensuring induction of the latest technology and greater uptake or usage.
NITI
Aayog is similarly supporting the National Broadband Mission.
We
have worked with DoT on Right of Way issues to expedite fibre rollouts and
telecom infrastructure deployment. On the one hand, states and local
authorities and on the other hand Central Government Ministries like Railways,
Highways, Power and Natural Gas, Environment and Forest etc. need to accept the criticality of telecom infrastructure and actively facilitate its roll out.
As
a part of the National Broadband Mission, DoT is creating a Broadband Readiness
Index for states which would measure infrastructure availability and positive
policy environment and this should hopefully sensitize them in this regard. Broadband for All is a national imperative.
We are also aiding them to open up the
satellite communications sector so as to spread broadband to rural and remote
areas, ensure robust multimodal connectivity and to tap the full potential of
IoTs and location based services.
The
whole regulatory environment for telecom needs to be conducive to greater
investment, innovation and rapid deployment.
There
needs to be considerable simplification of the licensing regime. Greater ease
of doing business and a more technology-neutral approach are the need of the
hour. Complicated ex-ante systems need
to be replaced with Trust based authorizations combined with effective
deterrence.
A
case in point is the recent very progressive change in Other Service Provider
Licensing regime which will greatly benefit our IT services sector and
facilitate remote working. This
was a case of the pandemic highlighting the need for changes which may
otherwise have taken a long time to materialize.
We
should use this crisis to bring about many other such reforms. For example, the
pandemic highlighted the need for online recharges, universality of smartphones,
and nationwide ration cards and subsidy transferability.
I
believe that India’s Universal Service Obligation Fund too can be used to much
greater effect to encourage infrastructure creation and innovative new schemes
for universal broadband connectivity. Its Rules allow for this and it has the
required corpus.
The
pandemic has also heightened the need for secure and resilient communications
which means enhancing our presence in global supply chains and greater
participation in IPR and standard-setting as far as advanced telecom
technologies are concerned.
In
summary, I can assure you that while there was always a huge push towards
digital connectivity and applications and awareness of their impact.There
is now a strong and renewed emphasis on this critical aspect of national
development.
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