The Telecom Commission has approved the Telecom Regulatory Authority?s (TRAI) recommendation to invest Rs 23.2 billion in the Northeast region for improving and extending telecom coverage in the region.
The funds would be provided by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had requested TRAI to carry out a gap analysis and prepare an investment plan for providing quality telecom services in the Northeastern states which comprise of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. According to DoT, teledensity in a majority of the Northeastern states is below the national average teledensity of 70 per cent. In addition, a large number of villagers do not have telecom coverage till date.
