Broadband Readiness Index for Indian States and UT’s 2019-2022 20/07/2019 – Posted in: Press Information Bureau
Broadband Readiness Index for Indian States and UTs 2019-2022
(Ministry of Communication)
WHAT
The Department of Telecom and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations signed an MoU to develop a Broadband Readiness Index for Indian States and Union Territories.
This will be a first of its kind exercise that will comprehensively measure the development of telecom infrastructure at the sub-national level.
BACKGROUND
- The National Digital Communication Policy 2018 acknowledged the need for building a robust digital communications infrastructure.
- Accordingly, the National Digital Communication policy recommended that a Broadband Readiness Index be developed to address Right of Way (RoW) challenges across India and attract investments.
ABOUT BROADBAND READINESS INDEX
- The first estimate will be made in 2019 and subsequently every year until 2022.
- This index will appraise the condition of the underlying digital infrastructure and related factors throughout the country.
- The BRI consists of two parts.
(i) Part I will focus on infrastructure development based on the measurement of nine parameters.
(ii) Part II consists of demand-side parameters which will be captured through primary surveys.
It will include indicators such as
(a) percentage of households using computers/ laptops with an internet connection,
(b) percentage of households with a fixed broadband connection,
(c) Internet users as a percentage of the population,
(d) smart phones density,
(e) percentage of households with at least one digitally literate member, etc.
Nine Proposed BRI Indicators:
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BENEFITS
- The index will provide useful insights into strategic choices made by States for investment allocations in ICT programmes.
- The index will encourage states to cross learn and jointly participate in achieving the overall objective of digital inclusion and development in India.
- The framework will evaluate a state’s relative development.
- It will also evaluate for better understanding of a state’s strengths and weaknesses.
- The research will be used on an annual basis for systematic evaluation of state-performance on metrics set out as the goals for 2022 under the new policy.
INDEX DEVELOPING PARTNERS
The development of BRI will be a collaborative exercise with stakeholders including State governments and industry associations like
- Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA)
- The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI)
- The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
Source: PIB
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