Question : Telephone Towers in Odisha

(a) whether there is a lot of demand to install telephone towers in interior regions of the State of Odisha and if so, the details thereof and the response of the Government thereto;

(b) the steps taken by the Government to increase the connectivity in these regions;

(c) the steps taken by the Government to install mobile towers in Sarada Assembly constituency and Aska Parliamentary Constituency in Odisha; and

(d) the number of landline and mobile connection in the State of Odisha as on date?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS,
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

(a) As per the data collected from the Telecom Service Providers(TSPs) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) field units in 2019, it is estimated that there are 6549 inhabited villages (as per census 2011 data) in Odisha, which are not covered by mobile services. Mobile coverage in such villages is being provided by the Government and TSPs in a phased manner.

(b) & (c) Under Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Phase-II project, the Government has approved installation of 158 towers for providing mobile connectivity in Odisha. However, under LWE phase-I project, 256 mobile towers have already been installed in Odisha. Out of these 256 mobile towers, 22 towers were installed in Ganjam district. Moreover, BSNL has planned to install 2 BTS under Sarada Assembly constituency and 3 BTS under Aska Parliamentary Constituency.

Under USOF BharatNet project, 6793 Gram Panchayats (GPs) will be having access upto 100 Mbps Broadband connectivity. The project is implemented in two phases under which 3810 GPs will be covered in Phase-I and 2983 GPs in Phase-II. Out of 3810 GPs under phase-I, work is completed in 3538 GPs.

(d) In Odisha 2,25,426 number of landline connections and 3,65,91,666 number of mobile connections are working as on date.
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