Broadband
Rural India to dominate next set of internet users
MUMBAI: India, with over 300 million internet users, is the second largest mobile market of the world, only after China. But, 300 million out of 1.2 billion population, surely leaves a lot of room for improvement. Urban India dominates 33 per cent of India’s total population, which means the next set of internet users will majorly come from the rural part, where people mostly communicate in their regional language.
The recently launched ‘Internet Saathi’ initiative by Google India in association with Tata Trusts and Intel promises to bridge the language gap. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com Google south east Asia and India VP and managing director Rajan Anandan said, “Google will introduce more and more regional languages with more technical upgradations. Also, the voice search feature will be strengthened to make the use of internet easier for the rural part of the country.”
As per analysis, in the first six months of 2015, India is estimated to have added 52 million internet users of which 50 per cent (26 million) have come from rural India. For the first time India is going to witness equal growth rate.
But the discrimination of internet is not only limited to rural and urban, but very much evident in male and female also. A large part of rural India considers internet as a tool for male counterpart. Only 12 per cent women from rural India uses internet and it is highly important to change this mindset, do away with the fear and make women from rural India active part of internet explosion.
“We are working with various partners to help spread awareness about the benefits of being online amongst women. While we have now started the ‘Internet Saathi’ initiative, in association with Tata Trusts and Intel, earlier we had launched a new film to inspire young digital natives to bring their mothers online. There are a large number of educated women in India with internet access in their households, but they still do not use it. We are targeting them with our initiative,” informed Google country marketing director India Sandeep Menon.
India now has over 100 million online shoppers, 200 million plus wireless internet users, 140 million smartphones, over 85 million 3G users out of which 9.3 million were added in past three months. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks about ‘Digital India’, he dreams of 1.2 billion people benefiting from digital. But to achieve that, the rural-urban, male-female barrier needs to be tarnished as soon as possible with various initiatives.
When it comes to frequency of internet usage, reports signify that a good 61 per cent of users are daily users. About 18 per cent access internet several times a day, 10 per cent users at least use it once a day and 33 per cent access it on all seven days of the week.
If we take the example of mobile phones, the multiplications happened only once the device was made affordable in the rural and sub urban part of the country. India is a mass country with aspiration in every eyes and internet, if used adequately, can be a tool to achieve dreams in rural part where hi-tech education is yet to reach.
Also, e-commerce can grow at a double speed if rural India starts shopping online. While infrastructure and pricing of wireless data puts India on the back foot, Initiatives like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Internet Saathi’ enthralls optimism. It remains to be seen how Modi, Google, Tata, Ambani, Mittal strategises to take internet to rural India.
Broadband
Tejas Networks names Arnob Roy as MD and CEO, overhauls top leadership team
The Bengaluru-based telecom gear maker reshuffles its entire top team even as quarterly revenue collapses by 83 per cent
BENGALURU: Tejas Networks is changing the guard at the top, and doing so at speed. The Bengaluru-headquartered telecom equipment maker has elevated Arnob Roy as managing director and chief executive officer, effective April 15, 2026, for a term running through to August 3, 2028, and in the same breath announced new appointments across operations and finance. The timing is pointed: the company is navigating one of the roughest patches in its recent history.
Roy steps up from his role as executive director and chief operating officer, a position he has held since March 2019. He brings more than three decades of experience in the high-technology sector across research and development, operations, and sales. His predecessor, Anand Athreya, resigned last year citing personal reasons and was relieved on June 20, 2025, leaving a gap at the top that has now been formally filled.
The numbers Roy inherits are sobering. Tejas posted a net loss of Rs 211.3 crore in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, a near-194 per cent widening year on year from Rs 71.8 crore in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter collapsed 82.6 per cent year on year to Rs 333 crore, down from Rs 1,907 crore. EBITDA swung to a loss of Rs 118.2 crore against a profit of Rs 121.5 crore a year ago. The culprit is not hard to identify: Tejas has derived the bulk of its revenue from BSNL’s fourth-generation network project, delivered as part of a Tata Consultancy Services-driven consortium, and that roll-out is now winding down.
Roy, speaking during a post-earnings conference call with analysts, was candid about where the company has been. “The BSNL 4G network went live across 100,000 sites. We deployed our largest indigenous router networks in the country through the BSNL MAN network, as well as in the BharatNet Phase 3 network,” he said, adding that Tejas had also successfully rolled out its 400G and 800G DWDM equipment in domestic and international markets, and continued the deployment of what it describes as the world’s largest satellite IoT network through its vehicle tracking system solution.
The pivot to new revenue streams is already under way. Tejas has partnered with Japan’s Rakuten Symphony and NEC Corporation to push deeper into international markets, with several Open Radio Access Network trials ongoing, one of which concluded recently. The company is also diversifying across equipment categories and geographies to sustain momentum as the BSNL chapter closes.
To prosecute that strategy, Roy needs a full team around him. Preetham Uthaiah has been appointed chief operating officer, moving up from his current role as vice president of product management for wireless products at Tejas Networks. Uthaiah brings nearly 30 years of global experience spanning engineering, product management, and business development across India and the United States. Before joining Tejas Networks, he served as executive vice president of product management, marketing, and strategy at Saankhya Labs, and held senior roles at Tech Mahindra on both sides of the Atlantic. He holds an MBA from Arizona State University and a degree in electronics and communications from Karnatak University.
On the finance front, AVS Prasad has been approved as chief financial officer, effective May 16, 2026, succeeding Sumit Dhingra, who has resigned. Prasad, currently serving as finance controller at Tejas Networks, brings over 27 years of experience within the Tata Group across telecom, aerostructures, and defence. A company secretary and cost and management accountant by training, he has spent more than 15 years in senior finance roles including CFO and financial controller positions, with expertise spanning corporate finance, treasury management, regulatory compliance, internal audit, and governance.
New chief executive, new chief operating officer, new chief financial officer — all installed in a single move, at a moment when the company’s largest revenue source is drying up and the next chapter remains unwritten. Tejas Networks has placed its bets. Now it has to deliver.
