Airtel to help bridge Gujarat's digital divide

AHMEDABAD, INDIA: The Gujarat government and Bharti Airtel have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to connect 13,716 villages across the state.

The MoU was signed between Bharti and the Gujarat government's panchayat, rural housing and rural development department, in the presence of state chief minister Narendra Modi and Bharti Airtel president and CEO Manoj Kohli.

Under the project, Bharti will set up telecom infrastructure to connect village panchayat (village executive) offices and common service centres. Bharti has designed a VSAT-based solution to provide last-mile connectivity to these villages. The project will be completed by March 2008, the company said in a press release.