The northeast region of India comprises seven states and is home to a population of 46 million, which is around 3.78% of the country’s population. The region has over 220 ethnic groups and dialects. Within the seven states of the region, Assam is the most densely populated state comprising around 68% of the total population. However, the region lacks internet connectivity, which translates into a digital divide, economic disadvantages, and limited access to services. Various factors have contributed to the region’s lack of internet connectivity, such as hilly terrain and frequent natural calamities that includes flooding and landslides.
The internet subscription rate in the northeast region is 43%, below the national average of 55% . This data might also not give a real picture of the region due to the relatively higher internet penetration in urban Assam. Additionally, the region faces higher network downtime and slower internet speeds, resulting in frequent digital transaction failure. One of the ways to measure internet penetration in a region is by looking at its teledensity, and it measures the internet connection per 100 individuals. As per the statistics, Assam has the lowest teledensity (at 71.75) followed by Meghalaya and Nagaland. Sikkim has the highest teledensity (at 142.49), followed by Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. While the overall teledensity has been increasing in the region, there has been a decline in the teledensity of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Tripura. This might be due to rising tariffs, increased WiFi use, and COVID-19-induced lockdown. Additionally, there is a vast difference between the download speeds in North-East India and the rest of India. While the average download speed in India is 108.86 MB/s and the median speed is 25.29 MB/s, the median speed in North-East India, except Assam, is below 20 MB/s.
The lack of access to the internet has also translated into 9,326 villages in the region being unconnected. Out of this, 2,000 villages are in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Meghalaya. Data from Mission Antayodya has also pointed out that Sikkim has the least number of banks with internet connectivity, consisting of only 69 banks, hampering access to various government services, including Aadhar penetration and necessitating cash-in-cash-out requirements. Nagaland on the other hand, has the least amount of business correspondents with internet connectivity with 79 correspondents, this has also translated into low digitisation of stores in the region.
This has also resulted into low computer usage in the region – less than 10% of people are able to operate a computer in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, and Meghalaya. A study by CSD on Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Sharsakta Abhigyan (PMGDISHA) in 2019 noted that the percentage of households owning a computer is below 40%. The highest was recorded in Sikkim, at 60.8% in urban areas. In rural areas, it drops to below 20% and as low as 3.2% in Tripura resulting in low ability to use and operate computers.