Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has grand plans to expand the reach of the Internet to his country’s most far-flung citizens. But some big numbers stand in his way.
1.06 billion
The number of Indians who currently don’t have access to the Internet. India’s offline population is greater than that of China and Indonesia–home to the next two largest unconnected groups–combined.
1 million
The number of miles of fiber optic cable needed to connect 250,000 village clusters in India to the Internet, according to a committee set up to get the project into gear. The original plan estimated that 370,000 miles of cable would do the job.
1%
The proportion of clusters of villages that up to June 30 were fully connected to Internet services in community centers, hospitals and schools under the National Fiber Optic Network that was launched in 2011.
2013
The original deadline for completion of the network. The date has since been shunted back twice and now stands at 2019.
$11.2 billion
The revised budget for the fiber optic network. Almost four times what was originally planned.
via What Stands in the Way of Modi’s Digital India – The Numbers – WSJ.
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