Digital networks integrating company STL on Thursday launched STL Garv, a rural digital platform, to bridge the digital divide in the country. STL Garv uses the BharatNet connectivity to enable rural households to connect to high speed broadband.
STL started the design of Garv ecosystem in 2018 and is piloting it in 11 villages across Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh, impacting over 54,000 lives. STL Garv has started offering digital services like telemedicine, e-tutoring, assisted e-commerce and government-to-citizen services.
Pravin Agarwal, vice chairman of STL, said while fibre had reached villages, it was not properly utilised. Hence, they decided to design and launch the Garv platform. STL will partner with the government and gram panchayats for rolling out these services. BharatNet has reached six lakh villages, but the last-mile connect to rural households was missing, which STL tries to overcome with the platform.
Anand Agarwal, Group CEO, STL, said this was an Indian solution for an Indian population with Indian apps. STL has the full stack from silicon, optical fibre, digital equipment, digital networks to applications required for a digital environment to transform rural India, Agarwal said.
Launching the Garv platform, Amitabh Kant, CEO Niti Aayog, said India was witnessing digital disruption in areas like digital payments, e-education and e-healthcare, and going forward, technology can accelerate the development of India, especially rural India. STL Garv would take this technology revolution to rural India and transform rural lives, he said.
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