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:

  1. Availability of State Policy on RoW and Towers (based on DoT RoW Rules 2016
  2. Percentage of ROW cases given permission within 60 days of the first application
  3. Availability of a centralized IT Portal for ROW clearances across all Government land and building owning authorities.
  4. Adoption of the National Building Code 2016 by the State
  5. Percentage of mobile towers connected with fibre
  6. The number of fibre kms per sq. KM/ per capita/ per 100 households
  7. Percentage of public institutions/offices connected by FTTX (Hospitals including PHCs, Police stations, Schools and CSCs)
  8. Percentage of towers receiving grid supply (Duration: Urban 20 hours; Rural 12 Hours)
  9. NagarNet and JanWiFi
  • NagarNet –Number of Public Wi-Fi Hotspots in urban areas
  • JanWiFi – Number of Public Wi-Fi Hotspots in rural areas

 

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

  1. Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA)
  2. The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI)
  3. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

 

Source: PIB

You can follow us on LinkedIn and on Instagram (Diligent IAS) for more updates related to IAS Preparation/ Study Material, Subscribe to our Facebook Page and Youtube Channel- Diligent IAS 

Also, read more PIB Updates