IT PAYS TO INVEST IN DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The spill over socio-economic benefits will far exceed the direct impact and rise exponentially for the wellbeing and growth of the humankind

- TV RAMACHANDRAN

These days, we are all, willy-nilly, deeply engulfed in a maelstrom of dramatic transformations and disruptions in work as well as daily living as the world transitions to a global digital economy. Technology has revolutionized the way we communicate, traversing physical, geographical and socio-economical barriers, with data positioning itself as the oxygen essential for survival. Broadband connectivity has become an essential component of our daily lives and its criticality could not have been better pronounced than in its emergence during this global COVID-19 pandemic – when digital connectivity and services helped sustain the working of the global economy. The foundational blocks for enabling this revolutionary change are the underlying and overlying digital infrastructure.

While it is quite impressive to hear all and sundry refer glibly to ‘digital infrastructure’ in everyday parlance today, the true import of the terms may not have been necessarily realised by many. As most economies have their communication needs serviced by the use of 1-2 dominant technologies, based on extensive outreach of services, the same is often misunderstood as digital infrastructure. Globally, the definition of digital infrastructure encompasses much more than merely an agglomeration of a few technologies. As ITU puts it, digital infrastructure comprises of a combination of technologies with varied uses for varied conditions, which come together to provide a holistic, scalable and quality delivery of services to cater to the connectivity needs of the people. This majorly consists of mobile broadband, fixed line, fibre, Wi-Fi, satellite communication, data centers, wireless fibre, and inbuilding solutions, amidst others.