India poised for massive telecom infrastructure expansion in 2-3 years.
According to Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan, telecom infrastructure would grow massively in next 2 to 3 years' time at a spend of Rs 1.3 lakh crore.
The Telecom Commission, a highest decision making body of the telecom department has recently approved several projects that include North-East mobile towers, Internet connectivity in 30,000 villages through satellite bandwidth and revised Network for Spectrum (NFS) project.
The top official said that the government would soon be reaching to unconnected villages with infrastructure initiatives it has undertaken. She added that the ambitious BharatNet program has reached to 80,000 Gram Panchayats or village blocks and that can easily meet a target of 100,000 blocks by December this year.
According to her, from January onwards, they will be able to offer a bouquet of services to rural India, and lowest data rates and affordable devices will propel India towards a digital age.
Sundararajan said that the hunger for Internet in India is high and people including those in rural India see it as a gateway for economic growth and social interactions.
India has leapfrogged and become the largest consumer of data only second to the UK, she said, citing worldwide statistics.
According to Telecom Minister Manoj, in the ongoing competition, BSNL will be able to make a safe place for itself.
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01-2026
