Why is rural internet connectivity hard to expand? | Explained
The past few years have seen a major, but not total, reduction in the lack of internet connectivity in rural areas. Why is it hard to make access more universal?
According to data provided by The Hindu under the RTI Act, 2005, the number of villages without 4G access has significantly decreased in recent years. This decrease is attributed to a scheme by BSNL to ensure all uncovered villages are covered with 4G connectivity. However, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has not yet finalized procedures to approve any satellite internet providers.
This could potentially eliminate the remaining villages without internet access. One of the primary challenges in expanding rural internet connectivity is the sparse distribution of villages across India, a country that has yet to achieve the level of urbanization seen in many industrialized nations. This results in telecom operators and internet service providers having to invest substantial amounts of money to reach a remarkably small user base.
The cost of laying fiber out to villages and setting up phone towers in these areas is prohibitively high, especially if the operators' financial decisions are primarily driven by the potential number of users these efforts might eventually reach.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
