# Here is how NITI Aayog’s boost will help technologies shape Digital India (HT Tech) > NITI Aayog approves trials of disruptive tech to push broadband connectivity under Digital India. # Here is how NITI Aayog’s boost will help technologies shape Digital India ## NITI Aayog approves trials of disruptive tech to push broadband connectivity under Digital India. Jul 09 2016, 16:28 IST ![Follow on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/follow-us-facebook.png) ![Follow on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/follow-us-facebook-hover.png) ![Share](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Share.png) ![Share](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Shareclicked.png) ![Share on WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/whatsapp.png) ![Share on WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/whatsapp-hover.png) ![Share on Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/twitter.png) ![Share on Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/twitter-hover.png) ![Share on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/facebook.png) ![Share on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/facebook-hover.png) ![Bookmark](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Bookmark.png) ![Bookmarked](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Bookmarked.png) ![image caption](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/rf/image_size_800x600/HT/p2/2016/07/09/Pictures/_bdd7fda8-45c3-11e6-8e05-c384b245cd95.jpg) NITI Aayog approves trials of disruptive tech to push broadband connectivity under Digital India. ![Author Photo](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/HTTech-new-circle-logo.png) ### By RANJEET RANE NITI Aayog approves trials of disruptive tech to push broadband connectivity under Digital India Among the many ambitious programs launched by the present NDA government, Digital India seemed to be the laggard of sorts. While the intention of the program and its transformative potential were undoubted ambitious, the implementation was not exactly taking off as expected. One of the primary reasons for this was the sorry state of the broadband infrastructure in the country. While the program provided a road map to transform the broadband infrastructure through special missions focused on expansion of fiber optic connectivity in rural and urban areas, it put the entire burden of this transformation on Government funded efforts and did not look to tap into contribution of the private sector towards attaining the objectives specific to Broadband Highways and Public Internet Access Program. What this meant was that the growth of broadband in the country would primarily be driven by the Bharat Net Project that was launched in 2003 as the National Open Fiber Network (NOFN). Bharat Net has not being able to catch up with the demand for high speed broadband in the country. It has also seen frequent revisions of its targeted year of completion with the most recent completion target moved to 2017 from 2013, and even this will cover only 1 lakh out of the targeted 2.5 lakh village panchayats. It was becoming more apparent with every passing day that the growth of broadband in the country would need to be fast tracked to ensure any significant measure of success of the Digital India program. It is towards this objective that the NITI Aayog recently approved the trials of three new technologies for taking broadband to the yet un-connected. Also read click here. First on this list is the "White Spectrum Space" technology that uses the unutilized spectrum between the 200-300 MHz frequencies used by Television channels to provide data transmission wirelessly. This technology has already been tested across Kenya, Tanzania, Philippines, Singapore and UK by Microsoft. Currently this spectrum is held by Doordarshan and the trials will not hamper the transmission abilities of the state broadcaster. Microsoft would be the partner in this project in India as well. Second is VSAT or Very Small Aperture Terminal technology, in simple terms this is internet delivery via satellites. It involves a network of Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites that will deliver satellite Internet services and mobile backhaul services to urban and rural areas alike. This is usually done by Ka band satellites orbiting at an altitude of 8,000 km. The benefit of this technology is that it can be used in the remotest of locations with minimal investment in on-ground infrastructure. The third technology in this list is Wi-Fi, while not exactly disruptive and path breaking it has a high potential to engage private sector players. Google is already providing Wi-Fi hotspot at selected Railway stations. These need to be extended to public places and institutions like schools, hospitals etc. more so in rural areas such that the erstwhile Chaupal could become the Wi-Fi hotspot in the village! Apart from these three, the government has already given approval for trials of Google's Loon project. Loon is conceptualized as a project that sends out solar powered balloons which in turn provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE (Long-Term Evolution). In order to use this technology, Google partners with telecommunications companies and shares cellular spectrum so that people will be able to access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. At present the movement of the balloons is controlled by Google which it aims to deregulate to stratospheric winds as the project scales up. Trials are underway in New Zealand's South Islands and 300 such balloons will soon be realized in space over Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Australia and now India. Fifty three years have passed since the Internet evolved from a lab experiment of the US Department of Defense (DOD) under the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) and today it is the single largest source of information dissemination globally connecting more than 3 billion users across the globe. The rate of growth of the internet however, is showing a steady downward trend from 47.3% in 2000 to 7.5% in 2016. With more than half of the global population still without a connection to the internet, this decline points to the saturation of the present day infrastructure sustaining the internet. Coupled with regulatory hurdles, government sponsored censorship and increasing strain on existing service providers to scale up services, the growth of internet in the coming decades demands a paradigm shift in the fundamental technology that powers the idea of the Internet. As is the case with freeing up any channel of information dissemination, the hurdles to all the above mentioned technologies were political than technical. Governments are known to hold on dearly to spectrum in the hope of monetizing it rather than giving it away for test projects. Balloons in the stratosphere will usher in a "borderless" internet in true sense, but the thought of such devices in sovereign air space and beyond may not work well with the security establishments on ground. Corporates investing large amounts of money in public internet infrastructure is already frowned upon by some internet activist as they believe this will go against the core principles of open access and net neutrality in future. Evolution of the Internet in India will depend on the rate at which it reaches the yet unreachable; here choice of technology will merely be the enabler, natural selection should be driven by the end user. The move to experiment disruptive technologies in India will go a long way in making this possible and may even led to broadband leap frogging mobile as the engine of growth of internet in India. (The author is a policy analyst in the Information and Communication Technology domain. Views expressed are personal) Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel. 09 Jul, 16:23 IST 71,589,384,560,272 NEXT ARTICLE BEGINS ![View all](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/view-all-icon.png) ## Tips & Tricks ![Ghibli-style art](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### How to turn your photos into Ghibli-style art with ChatGPT for free: Step-by-step guide ![How to create an invitation using iPhone’s new Apple Invites app- Step-by-step guide](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### How to create an invitation using iPhone’s new Apple Invites app- Step-by-step guide ![Apple TV app arrives on Android phones and tablets: What you get and how to install it](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Apple TV app arrives on Android phones and tablets: What you get and how to install it ![Vodafone Idea OTT plans](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Vodafone Idea users can now stream 17 OTT apps with one subscription: Here's how ![Android data transfer methods](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### How to transfer data from one Android to another using Google backup, USB-C cable, and more ## Editor’s Pick ![iPhone 16e launched with A18 chip, Apple AI—bringing flagship power on a budget: Check specs, price](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### iPhone 16e launched in India: All details about the new budget mobile from Apple ![DeepSeek was founded in China with only a fraction of the budget of the top AI companies in the US.](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### DeepSeek AI: How it works, who’s behind it, how it’s different from ChatGPT, and its big US market impact explained ![iPhone 17 Air likely to get this feature that iPhone 17 Pro models may miss out on](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### iPhone 17 Air likely to get this feature that iPhone 17 Pro models may miss out on ![Google Whisk AI explained: How remixing works, availability, and how it differs from Gemini](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Google Whisk AI explained: How remixing works, availability, and how it differs from Gemini ![iOS 18.4 beta arriving soon: Know why it is the biggest iPhone update](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### iOS 18.4 beta arriving soon: Know why it is the biggest iPhone update ## Trending Stories ![Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order ![Infinix Note 50s 5G+](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Infinix Note 50s 5G+ set to launch in India with 64MP camera and MediaTek Dimensity 7300 SoC ![Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more ![Apple Intelligence AI training](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Apple plans to train AI using your on-device data without accessing personal content or emails: Report ![CMF Buds 2](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### CMF Buds 2 key features and price revealed ahead of April 28 launch: Details inside keep up with tech ![Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-facebook.png) ![Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-twitter.png) ![WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-whatsApp.png) ![Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-facebook.png) ## Gaming ![Check out these five gaming monitors under ₹20,000,](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Top 5 gaming monitors under ₹20000 you should consider ![gaming consoles](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Grab gaming consoles at discounted rates during Amazon Great Indian Festival: Up to 72% off ![Pokémon GO Wild Area 2025](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Pokémon GO Wild Area 2025 to bring Grimmsnarl family, Shiny Hatenna, and global challenges ![Shade Silver](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Shade Silver free on Steam for a limited time: Here’s how to get it ![Call of duty](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 skips Switch 2 at launch, release date and price leak ![View all](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/view-all-icon.png) ## Trending News ### Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order ![Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### Infinix Note 50s 5G+ set to launch in India with 64MP camera and MediaTek Dimensity 7300 SoC ![Infinix Note 50s 5G+](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more ![Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### Apple plans to train AI using your on-device data without accessing personal content or emails: Report ![Apple Intelligence AI training](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### CMF Buds 2 key features and price revealed ahead of April 28 launch: Details inside ![CMF Buds 2](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ## Trending Gadgets Mobiles Laptops Tablets ![HT Tech](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/HT_tech-new.gif) - https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/here-is-how-niti-aayog-s-boost-will-help-newer-technologies-to-shape-digital-india-story-b5bOT6NBStdxtVrszyoyIK.html