The Indian government has introduced the first wave of rules to provide equitable access to mobile and digital services to underserved regions and communities.
India’s “Digital Bharat Nidhi” replaces the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to provide expanded telecommunications services across underserved regions and communities and support network security.
Among the projects the scheme will support include providing 4G mobile service coverage to villages in the country’s North East region and connectivity to island communities through subsea optical fibre cables.
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Jyotiraditya Scindia, India’s minister of communications, said the scheme “reflects our commitment to ensure equal access to telecom services” and strengthens the country’s "Viksit Bharat 2047" project to become a fully developed nation by the turn of the century.
The previous USOF focused on providing network rollouts to remote rural communities.
The Indian government said such communities lack access to services due to “commercial non-viability, on account of sparse population, remoteness of areas and an absence of supporting infrastructure.”
The Digital Bharat Nidhi scheme, however, aims to provide “widespread and non-discriminatory access” to mobile and digital services.
A notable addition to the project includes providing service support for states designated as “Left Wing Extremist Areas.”
States including Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha face violence from Naxalite–Maoist insurgent groups. Such areas are typically remote and suffer from poor development and governance.
The Digital Bharat Nidhi includes providing connectivity support for these areas to try and address socio-economic issues that fuel extremism.
In addition to widening connectivity services, the Digital Bharat Nidhi also provides research support and will establish standards aimed at supporting local telecom startups.
Any recipient of funding available under the scheme is compelled to offer telecom services on an open and non-discriminatory basis.
The Digital Bharat Nidhi is part of the country’s Telecommunications Act of 2023, which Parliament approved last December.
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