Prasad 2.0 to expedite Modi’s unfinished telecom connectivity programs

NEW DELHI: India’s new telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is expected to take some prompt decisions to accelerate the Narendra Modi’s ambitious telecom connectivity initiatives in rural and remote regions including strategic China border which has been nonstarter so far.

“More needs to be done and those (BSNL-led connectivity in uncovered villages) programs will be expedited soon,” Prasad told ETT and added that some work was already initiated during his earlier tenure in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Prasad, in his previous near two-year stint, from May 26, 2014, to July 2016, has led the left wing extremism (LWE) initiative across 96 districts in 10 states to deploy 4,072 towers aimed to boost telephony in the Red Corridor, and that was completed in record time in 2016.