India will be one of the fastest adopters of AI-based services: COAI

Highlighting the importance of Artificial Intelligence, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today said that India will be one of the fastest adopters of AI-based services.

"AI is a crucial enabler for achieving the national goals in the areas of healthcare, education and capacity building. With a positive ecosystem, driven by better connectivity and a financially robust sectoral health, AI will unveil possibilities hitherto unparalleled," Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI, said.

Rajan said: "The National Digital Communications Policy 2018 (NDCP) recognizes spectrum as a natural resource and therefore will ensure adequate availability, efficient usage and put together a fair and transparent allocation method for service providers."

According to COAI over Rs. 10.4 lakh crores have been invested so far by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in building a world-class telecom infrastructure and the proliferation of telecom infrastructure in the rural and remote areas have upped efficient connectivity and improved usability of telecom services.

TSPs had already established an infrastructural blueprint for services ranging from 3G to 4G. Now they are taking adequate measures to build the foundation for emerging technologies such as 5G, AI, IoT, M2M, etc.

With constantly shifting demands of the telecom ecosystem, a greater focus is being laid by Department of Telecommunications on the implementation of the Right of Way Policy at the State level. COAI also welcomed the adoption of Right of Way (RoW) Rule 2016 by 6 States viz. Rajasthan, Haryana, Odisha, Maharashtra, Assam, and Tripura.

Meanwhile, on the occasion World Telecom and Information Society Day 2018 (WTD 2018), COAI further said that the proposed investment of $100 billion in the communication industry will not only make communication services accessible to everyone but also provide much-needed relief to the industry.

With an aim to create 4 Million additional jobs, enhancing the contribution of the Digital Communications sector to 8 percent of India's GDP from 6 percent in 2017 to provide broadband coverage at 50 Mbps to every citizen, 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats of India by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022,and to deploy of public Wi-Fi Hotspots; to reach 5 million by 2020 and 10 million by 2022, the government has came out out with the draft policy 2018.