NEW DELHI: The telecom department plans to
take mobile network by December 2016 to nearly 10 per cent of Indian villages
that are still unconnected, to make the government's ambitious Digital India
programme more pervasive. Of the 6,00,000 villages in the country, about 55,000
are still awaiting mobile connectivity.
These villages fall primarily under the red
corridor — a vast swathe affected by left-wing extremism — and in the
Northeast. "In sync with PM Narendra Modi's vision, it has become
imperative to offer digital services on mobile platform," telecom
secretary Rakesh Garg said, speaking at the 'Good Governance Day' programme
hosted by the Ministry of Communications and IT.
Under the Rs 1.13 lakh crore mega Digital India
initiative, the government aims to connect every nook and corner of the country
with broadband Internet, and deliver services electronically through mobile
phones. The Trai had earlier in a study revealed major network gaps in the
northeast region. Arunachal Pradesh had the highest coverage gap at nearly 56
per cent, followed by Meghalaya with 38 per cent, Mizoram with 32 per cent and
Manipur 24 per cent.
In September this year, the Cabinet had
approved spending of Rs 5,300 crore to install 6,673 telecom towers across
8,621 villages, primarily boosting telecom network along national highways in
the Northeast.
"The department is setting up telecom
towers in Northeast with a pecuniary budget of Rs 5,300 crore and additionally
deploying 2,199 towers in left wing extremism affected areas," Garg said.
Setting up mobile phone network in the Naxal-affected regions is one of the
long-pending demands of the home ministry, which has recently asked the telecom
department to fasttrack deployment. Garg said the work would be completed by
the end of September 2015.
Read more at:
