Connectivity, communications fundamental rights: Ambani

New Delhi: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Monday pressed for bridging the digital divide "both among nations and within nations", saying connectivity and communications have become the fundamental rights of every person.

Also, there is a need to bring back the economies around the globe.

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, he said it is difficult to imagine what India would have been without the 4G telecom network during the pandemic.

"The digital divide must be bridged, both among nations and within nations. This is because connectivity and communications have become the basic needs, and also fundamental rights of every human being on the planet (just) as basic as food, clothing, and shelter," he said.

Ambani, who heads India's youngest but the largest telecom operator, said the day was saved because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'Digital India' much before the pandemic broke out.

Launched in September 2016, Reliance Jio revolutionised the telecom industry in the country by offering free voice calls and dirt-cheap data. Competitors matched its offering, making India home to 1.18 billion mobile phones and 775 million internet users fed on the cheapest data in

the world.

"Our Prime Minister (had) given a call for Digital India and I was privileged (that) our digital services company called Jio rolled out a 4G network across the length and breadth of the country by 2018," Ambani said. "We have always wondered what would we have done without a 4G network across India in facing the corona crisis."

And this digital infrastructure has helped in the rollout of the world's largest vaccination programme, helping children learn from home and let people work from anywhere.