NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee called upon concerned authorities to ensure availability of infrastructure for Internet and ICT-enabled services across the country and use it in a systematic manner.

Noting that India is at the 89th position in Network Readiness Index with countries like Singapore, Finland and Sweden having become leaders, he said Wi-Fi services could be rolled out in public places across the country both in urban and rural India. 

The President was speaking after inaugurating 24 Hot Spots with 30 Wi-Fi access points in the President’s Estate by which the Estate became 100 per cent Wi-Fi.

The President said India, with 244 million, ranks third after China and USA in terms of number of internet users. “However, the penetration of internet use as a percentage of the population is only twenty, indicating not only a huge gap but significant potential for future growth as well. With 960 million mobile phones today, India stands second in the world behind China and soon it is expected to become one billion mobile phones. We have more than 77 mobile phone connections per 100 citizens, which is commendable in terms of the penetration achieved by us in mobile telephony,” he said. 

Mukherjee said that the idea of bringing information to the doorsteps of citizens through network is a revolutionary step to transform India to a Digital India.  

Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Electronics & IT Secretary R S Sharma, National Informatics Centre DDG Ms Shefali Sushil Dash, officers and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan and their family members were present on the occasion.