Six-fold increase in Data traffic in India : Manoj Sinha

Telecom Minister, Manoj Sinha has recently said that the country has close to 1.2 billion telephone connections, including 1.17 billion wireless telephone connections and similarly witnessed the rapid growth of the broadband connections that now stands at 276.52 million.

He said, more than the number, it is heartening to see the six-fold increase in Data traffic in India from 561 million GB in the first quarter to 2988 million GB in the third quarter of 2016-17, which is a whopping 400 percent jump.

He also informed that the Department of Telecom has announced the 'Central Equipment Identity Register' last week, which paves the way for setting up of International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) based device registration and authentication that will settle the cases of Mobile Phone Theft to a great extent.

The department is also actively considering the TRAI recommendations on addressing Telecom Consumer Grievances and urged the officers to propose a state-of-the-art technology driven solution that records, monitors and provides end-to-end monitoring of every grievance.

Telecom Secretary, Aruna Sundararajan said that the world is looking at India as the next growth engine to grow from 7.6 percent to above 10 percent and it requires the huge effort by both the government and the private sector.

She urged the DOT to become an Engine of Transformation and to act as infrastructure builder rather than a regulator.

Referring to the customer delight as a hallmark of business success, she also urged the officials to achieve the target of 700 to 800 million internet penetration in the next five years for achieving the vision of the Prime Minister for a New India. The Secretary also underlined the need for Standard Development in new technology areas and referred to the case of digital payment, where India leapfrogged in setting the next standard.