Satya Nadella, global CEO of Microsoft, urged telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to allow the US software major to pilot its 'White-Fi' technology to provide internet connectivity in remote villages in the country at a meeting in the capital on Friday.
Microsoft's White-Fi, or television White-Space technology, works like Wi-Fi on a bigger scale to provide wireless connectivity across a 10 km radius at a speed of up to 16 mbps, by using chunks of airwaves lying between spectrum kept untouched by broadcasters to avoid interference or disturbance between transmissions.
Nadella, who is in the country on Christmas holidays, also discussed with Prasad other ways in which Microsoft could partner in the government's Digital India initiative. He was accompanied by the firm's India head Bhaskar Pramanik.