India is now the largest connected nation with more than 800 million broadband users, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY), said at the second edition of the India Internet Governance Forum (IIGF).
During the three-day event that started on December 9 and concluded on December 11, the theme was ‘Leveraging Tecade for Empowering Bharat’.
“We are the largest ‘connected’ nation in the world with 800 million Indian users. 5G and the largest rural broadband connectivity network project at BharatNet will have 1.2 billion Indian users constituting the single largest presence of the global internet. We also expect further technological innovations as well as updated regulatory policies to remain relevant. The deep involvement by all stakeholders will be the third leg of this Global Standard Cyber Law Framework that we hope will catalyze the Indian internet and the economy,” Chandrasekhar said during the event, according to a press statement.
The minister also added that India during the G20 presidency, the Prime Minister had said that India will be open to helping nations in the Global South who are interested in transforming their digital economy.
The various stakeholders in the event discussed the roadmap to digitisation of the country and the past, present and future of the internet and brought together people from civil society, academia, industry and the government. Meanwhile, MeitY secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma said that the government is trying to find ways how to create a trillion-dollar digital economy in the coming years.
