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Shri Dayanidhi Maran, Minister of Communications & Information Technology has said that a focussed approach is required to increase the tele-density in the rural areas. While addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry, here today, Shri Maran said that the tele-density in the urban area is 25 per cent while it is 1.1 per cent in the rural areas. This gap shows, a concerted approach needs to be adopted for increasing the tele-density in rural areas.
Speaking further on Rural Telephony, which was the agenda for the meeting, the Minister said that as of today, there are 1.2 crore rural telephone connections. Out of six lakh villages in the country, most have been provided with Village Public Telephone (VPT). However villages which are affected by insurgency and those with population less than 100 have been excluded. Thus, a total of 21,000 such villages have been excluded. The remaining villages would be covered by VPTs in a phased manner by November, 2007, Shri Maran said. The Minister informed the meeting that USO Fund Administration has already awarded contracts to various Telecom operators through tenders.
The Minister further said that Multi-Access Radio Relay (MARR) VPTs are being replaced, most of which were non-functional. Out of the two lakh such VPTs, about 1,15,000 have already been replaced with the reliable technology. The remaining MARRs VPT are planned to be replaced by June 2006. Earlier through landline, it was possible to give connections only within a 5 km radius of the telephone exchange. With WLL technology now is possible to provide connections in a radius of upto 25 kms. This has enabled to rationalise the number of exchanges, thereby reducing operational and maintenance problems and ensuring better services to the customers.
With a view to provide resources for meeting the Universal Service Obligations, the Institution of Universal Service Obligations Fund was set up. The fund provides support for operational and maintenance cost of all VPTs. Most of the telecommunication facilities in the rural areas are set up by BSNL. So far private operators were not ready to enter the rural areas. But now they have come forwarded and started bidding under the USO Fund, Shri Maran said.
Shri Maran solicited the suggestions from the Members of the Committee to increase the tele-density in the rural areas. With a view to increase the tele-density, the members suggested a change in approach with greater emphasis on providing public access. They also suggested that BSNL should be strengthened so that they can expand their network in rural areas. The existing communication facilities in the rural areas also need to be improved and efforts should be made to clear the waiting list expeditiously. In response, the Minister said that the waiting list of 1.3 million in the rural areas will be cleared within 12 months and steps would be taken to enhance the capacity additionally.
The following members attended the meeting:-
Shri Ajit Jogi, Shri Narayan Chandra Borkataky, Dr. Laxminarayan Pandey, Smt. Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, Shri Kishan Lal Diler, Shri Bir Singh Mahato, Shri Vanlalzawma, Shri Sanat Kumar Mandal, Shri Suresh Kurup, Shri Raja Ram Pal, Shri Munshiram, Shri A.P. Abdullakutty all from Lok Sabha and Dr. Faguni Ram, Dr. Chhattrapal Singh Lodha, Shri Nilotpal Basu, Smt. Chandra Kala Pandey and Smt. Kum Kum Rai, all from Rajya Sabha.
RM/AMA -040205 PCC Second Meeting
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