NEW DELHI: In a move aimed at accelerating the pace of digital transformation and efficient digital delivery in rural and semi-urban areas, the RailTel has now started working to set up the “Edge Data Centres” (EDCs) jointly with other partners.
Through this new initiative, the RailTel claimed to give a boost to the prospects of Digital India.
On Wednesday, the Railtel, which is a government PSU of the ministry of railways, claimed that the process to establish these Edge Data Centres was started with the floating of Expression of Interest inviting industries to be a partner of RailTel in such endeavour.
The RailTel is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country owning a Pan-India Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) network along the railway tracks. The OFC network of RailTel covers important towns and cities of the country and several rural areas also.
Official sources said that the RailTel is seeking partners to establish the Edge Data Centres in the Railway premises and land across 102 locations, especially Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns.
Talking about it Puneet Chawla, CMD, RailTel said, “With the help of such localized Data Centres, rural areas can be served with low latency applications related to digital skills, financial inclusions, digital literacy etc.
The Edge Data Centres will provide better experience and aid in the adoption of digital services by the population of these areas and thus contributing to the digital economy”.
The proposed Edge Data Centres will offer services based on market requirements including health, education and skill development sectors with selected partners.
“These centres will enable RailTel to improve the resiliency of the network and help to improve the customer experience of “RailWire” broadband services of RailTel. The current subscriber base of RailTel is around 4.4 Lakhs and it will further rise sharply with the coming up of such Edge Data Centre”, said a RailTel official statement.
Chawla claimed that the RailTel has been working with Indian Railways to transform railway stations into digital hubs by providing public Wi-Fi at railway stations across the country.