Background

The digital revolution has significantly enhanced human efficiency and livelihood opportunities over the past two decades. In Meghalaya, digital connectivity holds great promise for socio-economic development and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, especially with English as the official language. However, challenges such as difficult terrain, concerns over mobile tower radiation, and below-average tele-density hinder progress. As of January 2023, Meghalaya’s tele-density stands at 80.38%, lower than the national average of 84.61%, with UPI transaction volumes remaining low.

To address these gaps, the Meghalaya Telecom Infrastructure (Amendment) Policy 2024 was introduced to boost telecom infrastructure, fast-track 5G rollout, and ensure equitable access to digital services. Understanding the barriers and enablers for women is crucial to addressing gender disparities in digital access and adoption.

Against this backdrop, the hub is undertaking a study is to map the factors impacting digital connectivity in Meghalaya and examine how connectivity barriers and benefits affect women in the region.