It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this great initiative taken by the NGN Forum

on the World WIFI day. NGN is a platform to recognize and celebrate the significant role Wi-
Fi is playing in cities and communities around the world by driving exciting and innovative
projects to ‘connect the unconnected’. We are glad to be associated with NGN.

World Wi-Fi Day is a unique worldwide initiative organized by Wireless Broadband Alliance
under the leadership of Connected City Advisory Board (CCAB). It aims to raise awareness
about the importance of being connected and the essential role that Wi-Fi plays in this
connected world.

People increasingly want to be connected anytime, anywhere and whenever they want.
However still in some markets, the infrastructure is not yet optimal, making it much more
difficult to stay connected. World Wi-Fi day is a global initiative to help bridge this digital
divide.

Wifi, internet has become an integral part of our ecosystem. We feel so helpless without it.
Today there are about 50 million worldwide public hotspot points to the growing strength of
the global Wi-Fi network. The number of hotspots is expected to grow rapidly and to hit 340
million global hotspots by 2018. Today there is 1 Wi-Fi hotspot for every 150 people on earth.

Digital infrastructure and services are increasingly emerging as the key enablers and critical
determinants of a country’s growth and well-being. With significantly advanced capabilities in
both telecommunications and software, India, more than most countries, stands poised to
benefit from harnessing the new digital technologies and platforms; as a means to unlock
productivity, as well as to reach unserved and underserved markets; thus catalysing economic
growth and development, generating new- age jobs and livelihoods, and ensuring access to next
generation services for its citizens.

Government of India wanted to make PAN India a digital India and in this regard they have
currently sanctioned Rs. 10, 000 crores for this effort. In total there are 250K Gram Panchayats
(each GP has about 5 – 7 villages associated with it) – So far as the Bharat-net project, India
has brought Fiber to 110k GP’s as part of Phase 1. And as part of phase 2 they are planning to
have another 1 lakh GP’s covered. Telecom Operators like BSNL are lighting the last mile for
these GP’s. This will help the villages to have more VLE (Village level Entrepreneurs) and
grow business.

Shard University being an International education hub looks forward to increasing its
contribution towards developing Intrapreneurship through multiskilling and wifi hotspots.
Majority of people in our communities are not entrepreneurs. People, in spite of the fact that
they have entrepreneurial capabilities, are not ready to contribute in generating jobs by being
an entrepreneur. They are happy receiving their fixed pay cheques But yes, being an
Intrapreneur does not disqualify them from being entrepreneurial. The intrapreneurs are not
satisfied with the way things are. They are looking for a better way of doing their job. Our
mission at Sharda anyhow is to “serve the society by being a global University of higher
learning in pursuit of academic excellence, innovation and nurturing entrepreneurship.”
We encourage intrapreneurship by supporting the external entrepreneurial environment,
building the internal intrapreneurial environment, and rewarding the intrapreneur.

I would further request our technology partners ………………. And all the delegates present
here to contribute together in motivating employees and youth to think like an intrapreneur by
make effective use of technology, to bring in innovation and development in all streams and
strata’s, to make India great again.