Fighting the Covid pandemic, digitally (A new model is slowly emerging)

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 Fighting the Covid pandemic, digitally (A new model is slowly emerging)

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Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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• Telecom in a mess, and COVID19 strikes: The Supreme Court of India took a harsh stance against Indian telecom firms on the AGR issue, in March, but in light of COVID19 crisis, the timing couldn't be worse!  (AGR - Adjusted Gross Revenue)
• Shutting everything down: The coronavirus scare has shut everything down, and almost all activities have shifted to the internet. Most universities have gone digital. Virtual classroom softwares are the new normal. Face to face classes are all off, for now. And the same is true for I.T. firms of India as well. Work from home is the norm for now.
• Poor connectivity: Despite mutiple connections, many people are realising that high speed connectivity on a continuous basis is a myth. The sudden rise in demand has worsened the situation.

1. Ookla Speed Test shows India ranks 128 out of 140 countries, even behind Ethiopia! (in mobile broadband speed)
2. Even the Hubei province in China (hardest hit by the coronavirus) has speeds of 80 and 30 MBPS in fixed line and mobile broadband speed, resp. India's numbers are 40 MBPS.
3. There is a yet no 5G roadmap for India, but it is needed rather urgently.
4. Rural India's situation is far worse, with no fixed line broadband in many areas.

• NDCP 2018: The National Digital Communications Policy 2018 gave telecom the status of "critical and essential infrastructure".

1. NDCP has the "Fibre First Initiative" and estd. of National Digital Grid, etc. as policy pillars
2. Little has been achieved despite rolling out of this policy

• Critical infrastructure: Telecom networks that support all these (voice telephony and internet broadbad) are as critical as water, sewage, roads and electricity. But most of Indian telecom is privatised, unlike the other services. In India, competition between private players has sadly only meant price wars, and not higher services.
• Various technical problems: Telecom firms have suffered due to many - inadequate 'right of way' poclicies by municipalities in underground wire ducts, cable outages due to wrong coordination between agencies, wrong cell site positions and poor coverage, etc.
• Jammu and Kashmir: The internet shutdown in J&K needs to be lifted urgently. Students have suffered badly, due to only 2G availability. Overall, govt. must avoid internet shutdowns as the harm is deep.
• What govt. should do now: Instead of focusing only on how much it can earn through regulatory earnings, it must look at providing uninterrupted high-speed broadband to all. The virus pandemic is yet another reminder for it.
• Scrap the AGR: It is time to reconsider the entire AGR thing, as if the telecom sector collapses, the economy will stall.
• Summary : The virus pandemic is a grim reminder to Indian government that it must focus not as much on regulatory levies and earnings, as on ensuring continuous high speed internet for all.

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