Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (October 1) launched 5G services in select cities across the country, ushering in what promises to be an era of ultra high-speed Internet on mobile phones and devices.
While addressing the launch of 5G services in India, Modi said that not only will India be a consumer of technology, it will also play a significant role in the implementation of technology for the growth and progress of the country.
5G technology will revamp the entire architecture of the Internet, he said. He urged telecom industry associations to launch awareness campaigns in rural areas about how 5G services could better their lives.
Describing the launch of 5G services as a success of the government’s Digital India initiative, the Prime Minister said that the programme is based on four key pillars: cost of device, digital connectivity, data costs, and a digital-first approach. The initiative has had a significant impact in the rural parts of the country, Modi said. “Today whether it’s small businessmen or local artisans, Digital India has provided everyone with a platform,” he said.
Talking about rural connectivity, the PM said, “From just 100 Gram Panchayats with optical fibre connectivity, we now have over 170 thousand panchayats connected with optical fibre … I’ve seen even the poor of the country always come forward to adopt new technologies… Technology has become democratic in its truest sense”.
The PM said that in 2014 there were 2 mobile manufacturing units in India, but now the country has over 200 mobile factories. “From exporting zero mobile phones in 2014 to now, when we export phones worth thousands of crores … these efforts have had an impact on the cost of the device. Now we have started getting more features at a lower cost,” he said.
The Prime Minister added there was a time when no one believed in the potential of the common man and digital was considered a thing for the elite. Today, every citizen of India is using technology to the fullest. “There was a time when a section of the elite class…you can watch speeches from the Parliament as well, our politicians made fun of and thought that poor people do not have the capacity to understand digital services,” PM Modi said.
Modi also said that the utility of 5G is not limited to facilitating day-to-day activities, but rather, it is coming as a force to change life altogether. “We should use the launch of 5G services for the unprecedented growth and economic development of the country,” he said.
“Today, India is the world’s fifth largest economy. This provides an opportunity for our entrepreneurs, innovators, and for every citizen to become part of this journey towards a New India,” the PM said.
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