10 million households in Telangana to get high-speed net connection: IT minister KT Rama Rao

HYDERABAD: Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao who was addressing a discussion on ‘Harnessing Emerging Technologies in India’ at the World Economic Forum 2021, stressed on the ongoing T-Fiber project, and said that once it was finished 10 million households in Telangana would have 100 mbps internet connection. 

"It will be directly connected to their television sets, and once the television is connected to the internet it can be converted to a smart personal computer. Once that happens, it will truly amplify what can be done in commerce, healthcare, education, in terms of government to citizen (G2C) and so on," he said.

Rama Rao also stressed on skilling, fostering startups and so on. During his opening remarks, the Sircilla MLA spoke about the steps initiated by Telangana government to leverage innovation and emerging technologies in various sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and education. He gave an overview of the various multi-stakeholder initiatives such as AI for Agriculture and Medicines from the Sky.

While responding to a specific question, the Minister opined that digital readiness was instrumental for a V-shaped economic recovery keeping the current situation in mind. Conventional businesses rapidly went online across the country - leveraging improving internet accessibility. Internet has enabled access to new markets helping first movers to not only recover but thrive during the pandemic.

In his concluding remarks, he said that underlying disparities in healthcare, education, financial stability and technology led the COVID-19 crisis to disproportionately impact certain groups and countries. A holistic and systems-based view is required to stress test our assumptions of the future to identify hidden chinks and build resilience for future shocks, Rama Rao said. 

He said that democratic values such as privacy should not be compromised while bringing in technological advancements. The session was moderated by Diksha Madhok and the participants included Rajan Anandan (MD, Sequoia Capital), Meagan Fallone (Director, Barefoot College International), and Jai Shroff (Global CEO, UPL Ltd).

Disproportionate impact of COVID

Underlying disparities in healthcare, education, financial stability and technology led the Covid-19 crisis to disproportionately impact certain groups and countries. A systems-based view is required to stress test our future assumptions to identify hidden chinks, Rama Rao said