ITANAGAR, Feb 14: As per the 2011 census, around 3043 villages of the total 5258 inhabited villages of Arunachal Pradesh have mobile telecom connectivity, said Union MoS (Independent Charge) for Communications Manoj Sinha in the Lok Sabha while replying to an unstarred question raised by MP Ninong Ering on Wednesday.
Sinha informed that at present 4G service in the northeastern region is being provided through 4G base transceiver stations (BTS), and that additional 4G BTS are being set up by the telecom service providers “based on their assessment of techno-commercial feasibility.”
Replying to Ering’s question regarding the role of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and the details of the funds utilized, the union minister said the USOF was established with the objective of providing access to basic telecom services to the people in the rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices.
“Subsequently, the scope was widened to provide subsidy support for enabling access to all types of telecom services, including mobile services, broadband connectivity and creation of infrastructure like optical fibre cables, in the rural and remote areas. Since its formation in 2002-2003, the USOF has disbursed Rs 47882.96 crore for different projects, of which Rs 36978 crore have been disbursed to the BSNL,” he said.
