In September 2007, Ericsson under took a two-month project in India, called Gramjyoti meaning ‘Light of the village.’ The project showcased the benefits of mobile broadband for rural India. GSM is the wireless technology used by over 80 percent of global mobile subscriptions and covering 60 percent of India’s population. The next generation of mobile technology, called WCDMA/HSPA, was used in the project to demonstrate the benefit of mobile broadband to local stakeholders.
Thousands of people within the Gramjyoti project area covering 18 villages and 15 towns were able to use broadband applications. Ericsson worked in partnership with Apollo Hospitals, Hand in Hand (a local NGO), Edurite, One97, CNN and Cartoon Network to deliver a range of services including telemedicine, e-education and e-governance.
