Digital India: New WiFi products launched for rural areas

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led “Digital India” mission took its first giant leap towards making the country’s digital dream real as Minister of Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad unveiled new broadband products focused on rural areas.

The government’s telecom research branch Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) has developed a long distance and solar-powered WiFi product, which is aimed at providing smooth broadband connectivity in the country’s rural areas, highways, hilly terrain and tunnels.

The company has also created a green power source, which will increase the access of the country’s national broadband network. The product is self-sustainable, and it has been developed to enhance its reach from small villages to the remotest corners of the country.

Mr Prasad launched these products in the presence of Kenya’s cabinet secretary Fred Marang’I Okengo, who said that Kenya was closely following the Digital India initiative.

During its launch event, Mr Prasad said that C-DoT’s long-distance WiFi products will be able to solve the distance problem, while its solar-powered WiFi solution will minimise its dependence on grid power.

The Digital India campaign, launched by the prime minister in New Delhi on July 1, is aimed at bringing about 250,000 villages under broadband connectivity. The mission is also committed to enhance internet penetration to 500 million within two and half years.

C-DoT’s executive director Vipin Tyagi said the agenda of the research agency was to bring innovation in the latest technology to empower the weaker segment of the society. He said that broadband, besides food, clothing, and shelter, has now become an integral part of human lives.

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