Digital Communication Infrastructure to develop in Odisha

A strong vision of the Electronics and IT department is to use IT and electronics to transform Odisha into an innovation and knowledge-based society, focusing on inclusive growth through citizen-centric, participatory governance. The state government is also working to create an ICT-enabled environment to enable citizen-centric service delivery as well as to boost productivity and efficiency.

Among the various unique challenges, reliable connectivity is one of the major issues in the state, especially in the extremist-affected hilly and forest areas. Nearly 8,000 villages don’t have mobile connectivity, which is restricting citizens to get the benefits of e-governance services. The banking business has also not penetrated in most of the rural areas due to poor connectivity. The tele density is 81.06 which is less than the national average of 93.23 and rural tele density is nearly 50 per cent, which is a concern for the improvement of rural economy through digital initiatives.

The Government of Odisha has taken various initiatives towards digital literacy programmes to improve the digital literacy rate in the state. Moreover, Odisha has taken many steps for the promotion of digital payments and to make it a 100 per cent Aadhaar-enabled state. The technology and methods used in e-governance projects provide a roadmap for efficient delivery of government services to citizens, through internet at the doorstep.

To address the challenges in connectivity, a roundtable conference was conducted on how to develop a Digital Communication Infrastructure in Odisha, where C J Venugopal, Principal Secretary, E&IT, Government of Odisha stressed on the need for development of future network in Digital Communication in the state while seeking support from all TSPs and IPs for mobile coverage of uncovered villages in the state which is about 8000 at present.

The meeting was attended by the senior officials of E & IT (Odisha), OCAC and leading Telecom Operators, ISPs and the Industry representatives including COAI and TAIPA to discuss and understand about the development of digital communication infrastructure in the state.