Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications & Information Technology inaugurated Viom Networks? model rural service centre (RSC).
The RSC, set up at Badshahpur in Gurgaon, is an innovative concept of the ?Power of Towers?, developed by Viom Networks for leveraging its existing infrastructure through the public private partnership (PPP) model to achieve the Government?s vision of providing universal education, financial inclusion, telecom services, healthcare, e-Governance facilities and other related services to the rural population.
Inaugurating the RSC, Sibal said, ?I strongly believe that the telecom infrastructure sector offers a tremendous untapped potential that can be leveraged to enhance various government programmes and initiatives in rural India. Telecom infrastructure, especially towers that are located at remote locations in the country can be used to promote various social and economic development initiatives. The industry can, in actual terms, become true partner of the government and play a critical role in promoting growth in rural India. Our host Viom Networks has demonstrated this impressively at their proof-of-concept site at Badshahpur, Gurgaon. I urge the entire telecom infrastructure industry to come together and work towards making this concept a nationwide reality and help the people in rural India enjoy the benefits of connectivity and convergence and be the government?s partner in progress.?
During the launch of the RSC, Arun Kapur, CEO, Viom Networks said, ?Having pioneered the shared telecom infrastructure services industry, it has always been our endeavour to offer various innovative products and solutions to our operator partners. Our telecom infrastructure solutions have significantly reduced investments and costs for telecom operators, resulting in affordable telecom services for the common man thus facilitating the first leg of telecom revolution in the country. The RSC concept, envisioned by the Minister and developed by us, is yet another innovation aimed at leveraging our existing telecom infrastructure across the country to usher in the second round of revolution in rural India, the Telecom Revolution 2.0.?
?Through these centres, we aim to partner the government to achieve their vision of bridging the digital divide through a range of telecom services, enhancing literacy in rural India, driving the agenda of financial inclusion, providing healthcare facilities and consultation using telecom infrastructure, plugging inefficiencies in the rural system by driving e-Governance and offering various other services aimed at bringing rural India into the mainstream, thus contributing to the Government?s vision of Bharat Nirman. This concept can be adopted by the entire telecom infrastructure industry, providing the government a large canvas to implement its various initiatives effectively that are aimed at the social-economic growth of the rural population,? added Kapur.
