The Centre has approved the installation of 2,542mobile towers, including 483 inOdisha, under phase-II of the scheme for provision of mobile Services in extremism affected areas, official sources said.
Minister of state for communications Devusinh Chauhan told theLok Sabha that under phase-I of the scheme, 256 mobile towers out of the sanctioned 261 have been installed in Odisha. “Five towers could not be installed due to Maoist activities and lack of forest clearance,” he added.
The teledensity in rural and urban areas of the state till September 30 was 61.87% and 144.14%, respectively. Hundreds of villages in tribal-dominated districts do not have mobile connectivity, the sources said.
Chauhan said the BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all gram panchayats in the country. In Odisha, phase-II of the project is being implemented under which 2,485 gram panchayats have been made service ready out of the planned 2,946 till November 30, sources said. A total of 6,313 gram panchayats have been made service ready in Odisha in the two phases.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Odisha had 2.11 crore broadband subscribers till October 21. Similarly, the state has 50.15 Internet subscribers per 100 people. The internet penetration is 40.61% in rural areas and 91.98% in urban areas.