Situated on the ancient trade route between India and Myanmar, the Andaman were visited by the navy of the English East India Company in 1789, and in 1872 they were linked administratively by the British to the Nicobar Islands. The two sets of islands became a union territory of the Republic of India in 1956.
Ever since, the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands has come a long way in the road to socio-economic development and today stands as one of the most sought after tourist destinations with visitors from both India and Abroad besides showcasing a ripe environment for IT and ITEs services.
Not to be left out amidst the IT boom across the globe, the Govt. of India has laid foundation stone for the submarine cable connectivity which was approved by the Union Ministry of Environment in order to improve telecom connectivity in Andaman and Nicobar Islands by connecting the Union Territory with Chennai, via Submarine Cable System over 2,246km at a cost of Rs 71.28 crore with the proposed project by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to provide secure, robust and affordable telecom facilities carrying bandwidth speed of 100 Gbps The submarine cable connectivity will connect 8 islands of Andaman & Nicobar which include; Port Blair, Little Andaman (Hut Bay), Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar (Campbell Bay), Havelock, Long Island and Rangat.
With literacy rate of over 86% the youth community of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is eager to venture into innovation and explore the untapped arena
The territory provides peaceful work environment due to very conducive labour relations and excellent law and order situation. The Islands are fast emerging as a major tourist attraction because of their historical background related to independence movement. Having an extensive scenic beauty with rich flora and fauna, they attract tourists both domestic and foreign, thereby offering significant potential for investment in tourism related activities. The Islands have a long coastline of 1912 Kilometres and vast marine resources opens immense potential for aquatic and marine products like prawns, tunas, sharks, lobsters and shrimps. The territory is still virgin for exploitation of fish species for international markets in very large quantities. The Union territory is strategically located as far as access to international markets of South East Asian countries by being geographically closer as compared to the mainland markets of the Nation. Being a pollution free territory it offers great potential for electronics and software industries.
The connectivity would allow the implementation of e-governance initiatives; establishment of enterprises and e-commerce facilities in the islands.