Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Under the ‘Digital India’ Initiative, more than 95 per cent of villages now have access to the internet with 3G/4G mobile connectivity, the Centre informed on August 2. Out of a total of 954.4 million Internet subscribers in India, there are 398.35 million rural Internet subscribers (as of March), according to the Ministry of Communications.
Further, out of 6,44,131 villages in the country, 6,12,952 villages are having 3G/4G mobile connectivity. Thus, 95.15 per cent of villages have access to the internet (as of April). Under the ‘Digital India’ initiative, the Government has taken several initiatives to connect not only Metros but also tier-2 and tier-3 cities as well as rural and remote areas.
The total internet subscribers in the country have increased from 251.59 million to 954.4 million in March at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.26 per cent.
“The last 10 years have seen a vast expansion of the telecom network covering all corners of Bharat including tier-2/3 cities and villages,” said the Government. To provide broadband services to rural households, with the BharatNet project, all gram panchayats (GPs) in the country will be connected with Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity.
