{"id":8465,"date":"2021-04-27T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/?p=8465"},"modified":"2023-06-24T16:21:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T10:51:15","slug":"the-current-state-of-digital-divide-and-rural-broadband-access-in-india-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/?p=8465","title":{"rendered":"2021: The current state of digital divide and rural broadband access in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><em><br \/>\nIn this series, I talk about the current state of digital divide and rural broadband access in India as on 2021.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">It\u2019s 2021. We have been vocal about this issue for almost a decade now. Thousands of Indian villages suffer because of lack of broadband and Internet access.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8467 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-access-india.png\" alt=\"rural-broadband-access-india\" width=\"389\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-access-india.png 389w, https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-access-india-300x206.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">With COVID and the economic lockdown for the lower and middle class, this country is facing one its biggest crisis in the century. There is an urgent need to enable information and Internet access for every single citizen of this country.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\">How do we expect children to be a part of online education without Internet access?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\">How do we expect people to participate in a digital economy without having access to Internet?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Does e-governance simply mean making new b.s. apps to give people an illusion that something is being done?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Why don\u2019t we treat Internet access as a human right in this country?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8468 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-access-india-digital-divide.png\" alt=\"rural-broadband-access-india-digital-divide\" width=\"397\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-access-india-digital-divide.png 397w, https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-access-india-digital-divide-300x204.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 397px) 100vw, 397px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">To elevate poverty and misery from this country &#8211; we have to ensure equal opportunity to access information for all. This means, connecting every last village with broadband Internet access. We are one of the youngest countries in the world with tremendous potential to not just uplift ourselves but to also raise the standards for this entire sub-continent. We rise despite our government, not because of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8469 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-india-digital-divide-.png\" alt=\"rural-broadband-india-digital-divide-\" width=\"391\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-india-digital-divide-.png 391w, https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-india-digital-divide--300x176.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 391px) 100vw, 391px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">From student protests to farmer protests, the government of India has time and again demonstrated its oppressive nature by blocking or censoring the Internet. However, nothing has been done to provide last mile connectivity to rural areas. The apathetic nature of our ruling classes do not consider the plight of the weakest members of our society. At this stage, for those of us who remain conscious, it\u2019s up to us to empower the weakest and the most vulnerable members of our countries with infrastructure and educational access.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6Zk1C6IDhLw]<br \/>\n&nbsp;<span style=\"color: #000000\">At Muft Internet, one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/\"><strong>trusted internet bandwidth providers in India<\/strong><\/a>, we have been teaching locals from different remote villages in India how to set up their own community broadband without ANY help from big telco or the government. Both of which focus on quantity and profit instead of inclusivity while designing access solutions for the masses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8470 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-india-digital-divide.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-india-digital-divide.png 400w, https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/rural-broadband-india-digital-divide-300x179.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Since the lockdown hit last year, our team has been working round the clock to share this knowledge. Mobilizing young Indians to take charge of their own village\u2019s broadband access. There is no point waiting for the government or big telcos to set up infrastructure in these remote and forgotten places.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">We are one of the lowest ranking countries for Internet speeds and freedom. We have some of most wide-spread Internet censorship. A mark of a strong democracy and a civilised society is how they treat Internet access for it&#8217;s citizens. In India, we simply lack this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\">Some of the villages we got broadband Internet to last year didn\u2019t have 2g or any mobile network to communicate. We have been getting 100s of phones calls every week from villagers asking us to help them set up community broadband access for their villages, they wanted to know <a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/isp-consultant-india\/how-to-become-a-wisp-in-india\/\"><strong>how to get wifi connection in village<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s been impossible for us to reach all of these places at the same time considering our small research and technical team that works pro-bono.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZpMl04ooAps]<br \/>\n&nbsp;<span style=\"color: #000000\">In light of this situation, we are launching our own digital education platform that aims to teach young Indians how to set up and run their rural broadband network. A simple 100 hour free course with a centralised helpline that will possibly transform the state of access in this country in time to come.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>ALSO, YOU CAN READ OUR NEW UPDATES<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/28\/how-to-become-a-wisp-in-india\/\">How to become a WISP in India? Starting a Wireless \/ Wired Internet Service Provider business<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/02\/start-wisp-business\/\">How to start an ISP business in India with less than \u20b9 500,000?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/09\/10-steps-to-start-your-own-isp-business-in-india\/\">10 Steps To Start Your Own ISP Business In India<\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/16\/how-to-start-an-isp-business-in-india\/\">8 Steps: How to start an ISP business in India?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/11\/start-an-isp-business-in-india\/\">When to start an ISP business in India? Opportunities &amp; Hurdles<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/17\/time-to-become-an-isp\/\">Time to become an ISP! Even after Jio, 60% of India still offline.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Check out the current state of digital divide and rule broadband access in India from the trusted internet bandwidth providers in India. Read this blog to know more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[54,137,399,400,402,403,397,90,398,401],"class_list":["post-8465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-divide-india","tag-digital-divide-3","tag-digital-divide-in-india","tag-digital-divide-india","tag-internet-access-in-india","tag-internet-censorship-in-india","tag-internet-infrastructure-in-india","tag-rural-broadband","tag-rural-internet","tag-rural-internet-access","tag-stats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8465"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9909,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8465\/revisions\/9909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muftinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}