‘Next phase of India’s telecom revolution will be 10 times bigger’
9 April 2013 1:40 AM GMT
National Innovation Council Chairman and Prime Minister's Advisor on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation Sam Pitroda on Monday emphatically rejected the idea that India's telecom revolution is in decline.
Speaking at a book launch here, he said, 'The first phase of the telecom revolution is coming to an end. The coming revolution will be 10 time bigger than the last one and will transform India completely.'
'Democratisation of information is the next revolution,’ he pointed out, adding that the emphasis now will be on the creation of a public information infrastructure system in India.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s recent Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) speech, Pitroda remarked, 'No one really got it. He made a reference to the second telecom revolution, with efforts to empower people at the grassroots level and emphasis on inclusive growth.'
'We have already built a national knowledge network...in addition to it we are connecting 2.5 lakh panchayats through the optical fibre network, where you will have hundreds of mega bytes of bandwidth at village panchayats... this will change the way we govern,' explained Pitroda.
'We are just going through a transition. Everybody goes through a transition. Sometimes you fall down, hurt your elbow but its OK,' he observed.
Agencies Add: Over the last few years, the telecom sector has been affected by regulatory uncertainty which has hurt the investor sentiment.
This is also reflected in a sharp decline in foreign investments. Foreign direct investment (FDI) to the sector plummeted by 96 per cent to $70.46 million in April-November 2012 period from $1,987.18 million during the same period a year ago. Since 2010, many of the sectoral issues were embroiled in legal cases.
Speaking at a book launch here, he said, 'The first phase of the telecom revolution is coming to an end. The coming revolution will be 10 time bigger than the last one and will transform India completely.'
'Democratisation of information is the next revolution,’ he pointed out, adding that the emphasis now will be on the creation of a public information infrastructure system in India.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s recent Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) speech, Pitroda remarked, 'No one really got it. He made a reference to the second telecom revolution, with efforts to empower people at the grassroots level and emphasis on inclusive growth.'
'We have already built a national knowledge network...in addition to it we are connecting 2.5 lakh panchayats through the optical fibre network, where you will have hundreds of mega bytes of bandwidth at village panchayats... this will change the way we govern,' explained Pitroda.
'We are just going through a transition. Everybody goes through a transition. Sometimes you fall down, hurt your elbow but its OK,' he observed.
Agencies Add: Over the last few years, the telecom sector has been affected by regulatory uncertainty which has hurt the investor sentiment.
This is also reflected in a sharp decline in foreign investments. Foreign direct investment (FDI) to the sector plummeted by 96 per cent to $70.46 million in April-November 2012 period from $1,987.18 million during the same period a year ago. Since 2010, many of the sectoral issues were embroiled in legal cases.
Next Story
