BSNL 4G Will Reach 24,860 Previously Uncovered Villages By Dec 2023: DoT

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday said state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) 4G mobile services is slated to reach previously 24,680 uncovered villages.

The initiative from the state-run telco will look to reach out to these villages, many of which are in remote, rural and far-flung areas. The project is expected to be completed by December 2023.

This development from DoT comes under the ‘Saturation Scheme’ for providing 4G Mobile Services. 

DoT made the announcement on the occasion of ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’. At an event, the telco-arm of the central government said that it has several schemes that have been providing telecom infrastructure and connectivity in areas having a sizable tribal population.

“2,343 mobile towers have been installed in such areas in States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal under Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-I scheme. Another 2542 mobile towers are being installed under LWE-II scheme,” DoT said in a statement.

It further shared that under Aspirational Districts Scheme, the body plans to connect 7,789 new villages.

DoT said that under Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for the North-Eastern Region i.e., for uncovered Villages in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, mobile connectivity is being provided by installing 1358 towers. In addition, 20 Gbps International bandwidth for Internet connectivity to Agartala from Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL), Bangladesh via Cox Bazar/Kuakata has been commissioned.