No mobile in 55,669 villages

Even after 20 years of introduction of mobile services in the country, there are at least 55,669 villages where the mobile telephone service has not reached so far. And the department says, wait for five more years! For this, they need Rs 21,000 crore.

Out of these, 8,621 villages fall in the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North Eastern Region (NER) already approved by the cabinet on 10.09.2014. Additionally, Detailed Project Report (DPR) for 4,752 villages in the Himalayan States (J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) and 2,138 villages in Western Border States (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana) is being prepared by TCIL and will be completed by March 2015. Mobile coverage for balance about 40,000 uncovered villages is proposed to be provided in a phased manner over five years. This situation is revealed in the minutes of the meeting held on 06.02.2015.