Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that the government will be investing close to $30 billion for 4G and 5G networks in every village.
In his valedictory address at the Global Fintech Festival 2022, he noted, "We are investing close to $30 bn to ensure last-mile network accessibility for 4G and 5G in every village across the country. So far we have been able to reach out to over 1.5 lakh gram panchayats. We are now building a highway creating a whole ecosystem of village entrepreneurs, channelizing the energies of youngsters to take good quality, high-speed data connectivity to every village in the country while making them a part of the growth journey. We have tested this model and approximately 80,000 new connections are now being facilitated every month."
He summed up three core focal areas in fintech for the government consisting of building a robust digital infrastructure and a digital regulatory framework, along with social inclusion and the societal imperatives around it.
Sharing his views on the digital regulatory framework, Vaishnaw said, "Telecom is the very foundation of Digital India and there is a clear mandate to overhaul our digital regulatory framework such that it is globally benchmarked and endorses global competitiveness. We are currently looking at 3-4 legislations cumulatively inclusive of the new telecom bill, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, and the IT Act of 2000 to create an interactive framework in which the industry's concerns are addressed by the government and government's concerns are duly taken into consideration by the industry. Technological navigation has to be modulated such that the interests of end users are protected."
Talking about the integration of payment systems across the transportation sectors, he said, "While a project was taken up on common mobility, the way technology has evolved over the last 5-10 years, I think instead of a card, probably the mobile phone itself will become the common integrating factor. Work has been done on this front and as innovative entrepreneurs of this country we should continue to pursue this further."
