Public Data Offices to Provide Internet Connectivity to Indian Masses
Manoj Sinha launching the C-DOT’s Public Data Office, at a Workshop on “Future Proof Smart Cities with a Common Service Layer”, at the India-EU ICT Standardisation Collaboration, in New Delhi on April 21, 2017
India’s Minister for Communications Manoj Sinha said Friday that present day telecommunication and networking is expanding its boundaries and voice based network are getting changed to data oriented networks.
Speaking at the India-EU ICT Standardisation conference at C-DOT, he said that this has been possible because of the standardisation of telecom equipment and interconnectivity.
He said that India has planned 100 smart cities and it is necessary to take care of our citizens in terms of quality of life, security and well-being.
Sinha further added that standardisation of machine to machine communication will ensure that there is participation of many players in realization of smart city ICT infrastructure and it will be a platform on which new applications like e-health, e-traffic control, e-waste management, e-mandi, e-education and many other new applications will evolve.
Speaking on the occasion, the executive director of C-DOT Vipin Tyagi said that Public Data Office, PDO, that the Minister has launched will go a long way in providing internet access to the rural masses at affordable cots.
He said that this will also help in realizing the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Digital India and will bridge the gap between haves and have nots. He said this is truly a revolution of sorts for its journey from PCO to PDO.
C-DOT hopes that PDOs would bring next telecom revolution by taking internet connectivity to the masses. Like PCOs, the PDOs would enable small shop owners increase their income by selling data vouchers.
This will also encourage village-level entrepreneurship and provide strong employment opportunities, especially in rural and semi urban areas.
