Steering India to the New Digital Universe was a great Global CEO conclave. The esteemed panelists Rakesh Vij, CEO, Truminds; Tushar Agnihotri, CEO India, Route Mobile Ltd.; Marshal Correia, Vice President and General Manager, India, South Asia, Red Hat; Sanjay Nayak, CEO & Managing Director, Tejas Networks; P.K Purwar, BSNL, CMD; and Harsha Razdan, Co – Head for Clients & Markets, KPMG India.
The speakers talked about the launching the success in 5G space. Mr. Praveen K Purwar said that there are still 400 million people almost getting connected as the last population to get connected. The government is also taking responsibility to connect the bottom most people of the country whether living in far flung areas, islands or hilly areas. The economic model of reaching the program may not be vibrant but BSNL has taken the initiative with three projects i.e., connecting the ilets which focused on Andaman and Lakshadweep Islands.
Earlier people were unable to connect but now 60 GBPS is taking alone and other islands are also being connected. Second, connecting 30,000 villages where there is no mobile connection, digital infusion dream of the government can be fulfil by this project. Third, Bharat, which provided multiple thousand connections in rural areas at 45 GBPS per customer in a month. He said that it is not rural that does not need connectivity but it is only we are finding non-commercial liable and BSNL is helping out the government.
Mr. Marshal has a point that everything overnight has to go contactless and business has to run. The way industry came together, technology providers etc., it is commendable which was possible only because of clear digital India strategy. The kind of infrastructure we have built as a country in terms of JAM i.e., Janadhan, Aadhar and Mobile. Hybrid cloud, Network compute are the role player in this. 5G opportunities are limitless in his opinion. We don’t know what future rules it is important to build architectures which are open, agile and has flexibility and choice.
Telecomm equipment is the most impactful in term of security and trust, specifically when the data and the uses of Telecom network not only going to every aspect of human being but lot more of our life. It becomes important that we become Self Reliant. The new change is visible as the confident and competence of the country in building its own RND driven technology equipment has dramatically gone out. In 3 to 5 years India will be a global force and contributing to a much larger digital Universe as a contributor to technology products as well as standards.
Sky is the limit was the unanimous thought of all the panelists in this session. They left the audience with the thought that digital world is here to stay and now needs to be imbibed by all; founding pillars are laid out and it is all now about use cases, there is new energy of Atmanirbharta that offers an opportunity, which is unique to Indian manufacturers, and can be replicated around the world, so that India can contribute in multiple dimensions rather than just being a consumer of technology; and last but not the least – connectivity must be digitally inclusive to all sections of society and all geographies in the country.
– Sakshi Modi
