Internet users in India to reach 730 million by 2020: Govt
Referring to National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Akamai, the Telecom Ministry on Monday said that Internet users in India will reach 730 million by 2020. Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha further said that as per information received from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, there were 391.50 million Internet subscribers in India as of December 31, 2016.
The massive push given by the central government to its ambitious Digital India program has led to a massive jump in internet users in the country.Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said that as per information received from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there were 391.50 million Internet subscribers as on December 31, 2016.Referring to Telecom companies' body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Akamai, the Telecom Ministry said that 730 million Internet users are anticipated in the country by 2020."Due to fast adoption of digital technology, it is expected that number of internet users will increase in the country. The National Telecom Policy-2012 envisages 600 million broadband connections by the year 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed," the minister added. To give a push to digitisation in country, the government has allocated 965 Megahertz spectrum through auction in October, 2016 to various telecom service providers for access services. This will enable the telecom service providers to roll-out 3G and 4G services which will facilitate proliferation of high speed internet facility.Further, for provision of broadband facility in rural areas, BharatNet project is also being implemented to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (approx Rs 2.5 lakh) in the country.