“The first phase of the telecom revolution has ended. We have 900 million phones. The second part of telecom revolution is about to begin. This includes broadband networks connecting 2,50,000 panchayats through optical fibre aiming at transforming the economy,” said Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure. He was speaking during a live webcast from New Delhi to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of India’s first Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) Rural Automatic Exchange (RAX) at Kittur near Belgaum.
Mr. Pitroda, considered the architect of India’s telecom revolution, said the second telecom revolution would seek to bring about transformation in education, health, governance and delivery of public services. “Focussing on indigenous development is the need of the hour. You cannot expect somebody from outside to build what you require,” he added.
The silver jubilee celebrations of India’s first C-DOT RAX at Kittur were simultaneously held in Bangalore, New Delhi and Kittur on Tuesday. The event also marked the completion of 20 years since rural India got its first dial tone. During the event, RAX was upgraded to New Generation network, which will carry voice, data and video traffic. This is expected to be implemented through the BSNL network in the next three years.
Minister Kapil Sibal spoke on the role of the telecom industry for economic growth in emerging economies.
