BENGALURU: According to the recently concluded Annual General Meeting of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is that, by October 2018, all Gram Panchayats will receive Wi-Fi connectivity under the Bharat Net Project.

Speaking at the ‘Data Connectivity for the Next Billion’ Conference which was organized by COAI, Telecom Secretary J.S.Deepak said, “The plan is to finish coverage of all gram panchayats with Wi-Fi as the last mile solution.”

Through this initiative the government aims to deliver optic fiber to every Panchayat across the country within the next three years. The first phase of the project will see each and every citizen gain access to the internet via Wi-Fi at a rate of 100 per month.

By March 2017, over a 100,000 Gram Panchayats are expected to have 80-100 mbps connectivity with a last mile Wi-Fi, hotspot kind of end-user possibility to make data available to those who do not have access to it. In the next phase of the plan, with underground fiber, overhead fiber, radio satellite and the use of state government agency, especially the power distribution companies, the plan is to finish coverage of all Gram Panchayats by late 2018. 

According to COAI’s 2015-2016 annual report, around 250 million citizens currently use wireless broadband services. With the government’s new initiative, COAI says that the number could be well over 800 million by 2020, which is the stipulated duration of the project.

The meeting also saw a hierarchal change with the old guard making way for the new as Bharti Airtel’s Managing Director and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal is elected as the new Chairman of COAI, while Vodafone India MD and CEO Sunil Sood took over as its Vice Chairman.

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