Pathetan (Pune), June 7th, 2022: Common Service Centre (CSC) is a pan-India network enabling Government’s mandate to build a socially, financially, and digitally inclusive society. Contributing to the “Digital India” mission, CSC and SugarBox Networks have partnered to digitally connect rural geographies.
Every time the country speaks of moving experiences to a digital platform, the real question is in evaluating how the ‘last-mile’ connectivity will be addressed. Lack of Infrastructure, minimal awareness about digital services, unavailability of services in local language or commercially unfeasible (for providers), are often cited as common reasons for the existing digital divide. The need of the hour is to utilise this existing ecosystem (and infrastructure) to connect citizens across the underserved as well as unserved geographies.
And this is the solution that Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd envisioned. Today, the end user in a remote area or in an area with unreliable or no network connection, can access native digital content, as if they were residing in a (digitally) connected area, through the application of a patented Hyperlocal Edge Cloud technology solution, which Dr. Dinesh Tyagi believed would be a steppingstone towards a better future.
“The partnership of CSC and SugarBox Networks is to enable access to digital information across gram panchayats, at zero data cost. The objective of this partnership is to equip villagers, across the country, with information in education, healthcare, entertainment through movies and video series as well as make digital payments a reality. We have initiated this partnership through pilot programs in villages, spread across different geographies, in the country”, expressed Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd.
The intent of this partnership is to bridge the digital divide by replicating this model in as many unserved geographies as possible. Presently, SugarBox has enabled access to digital services in over 40 Gram Panchayats, across Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand
“The partnership with SugarBox Networks has enabled our community to gain digital access at an affordable price. It has also helped in fostering a sense of community-building, as everyone gathers around the CSC centres to spend their free time viewing movies and entertainment. Villagers at Pathetan are now able to consume entertainment as and when they want to, at zero data cost. We hope this impact becomes a reality across villages, in the country”, said Smt. Jyoti Govind Yadav, Sarpanch, Patethan village.
SugarBox is working towards deploying the Hyperlocal Edge Cloud Technology solution across high catchment (Public) areas such as gram-panchayats, CSCs, government schools, so that staying ‘digitally connected’ for villages becomes an equitable necessity.
“Villages today need equal opportunities – be it financially, economically, or even digitally. It is important to acknowledge that residents in remote locations should have access to the benefits that the digital universe offers, to enhance their livelihoods. Our partnership with the CSC centres is unlocking the opportunity to offer seamless and reliable access to digital content for the villagers, at zero data charges. Patethan has become one of our first model villages, where we deployed our patented technology solution as part of the pilot projects. We are confident that this is a beginning to building the backbone for the internet of the future and laying the foundation towards internet democracy”, added Rohit Paranjpe, CEO & Co-Founder, SugarBox Networks.
Under the guidance of Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, we are confident that this collaboration is a strong step ahead to offer education, rural commerce, and digital payments in rural India, thus improving future capabilities and extending the reach to the next billion users.
About SugarBox Networks
SugarBox Networks is the world’s first Hyperlocal Edge Cloud platform that enables Users, Networks (ISPs, Internet Infra providers, etc.) and Digital Services (Apps, Websites, etc.) alike, to harness the power of Local Area Networks. With this technology at its heart, the company is reimagining connectivity for the unserved and underserved globally, to make digital access affordable, and reliable for the masses, whilst being economically viable for the existing internet ecosystem.
SugarBox, co-founded by Rohit Paranjpe, Devang Goradia and Ripunjay Bararia in 2016, installs Edge servers at places where users are present and prone to access digital services (POIs). These Edges are installed close enough to the users so that they can now be accessed via wired and wireless Local Area Networks, to reduce the amount of internet bandwidth required by users. This disruptive technology also enables Apps and websites to function seamlessly, even when the internet network is patchy or if the network goes off altogether for a while, using its patented technology.
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