As per minister of state for communications, Sanjay Dhotre, over 6,549 villages in Odisha do not have access to mobile phone services according to data collected by telecom service providers (TSPs) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The minister further stated that these villages are being provided with mobile coverage by the government and TSPs in a phased manner. Further, there are 225,426 landline connections and 36,591,666 mobile phone connections working as on date in Odisha.
The centre has approved the installation of 158 towers for providing mobile connectivity in the state under the Left-wing extremism (LWE) Phase-II project. Meanwhile, 256 mobile towers have already been installed in the state under the LWE Phase-I project.
Out of these 256 mobile towers, about 22 towers were installed in Ganjam district alone, the minister added. Additionally, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has planned to install two base transceiver station (BTS) under the Surada assembly constituency and three BTS under the Aska parliamentary constituency.
Under the BharatNet project, about 6,793 gram panchayats (GPs) will have access to 100 Mbps broadband connectivity. The project is being implemented in two phases under which 3,810 GPs will be covered in Phase-I and 2,983 GPs in Phase-II. Out of 3,810 GPs under Phase-I, the work has been completed in 3,538 GPs.
