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Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has already covered 589 District Headquarters (DHQs) of the country. This was stated by Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology today in the Lok Sabha in a written reply to the question by Shri G. Karunakara Reddy. Dr. Ahmad further said that as per the terms and conditions of the licence for Cellular Mobile Telephone Services (CMTS), an operator for Telecom Circle Service Area is required to cover 10% of the District Headquarters in the service area within one year and 50% of the District Headquarter within three years. The licensee is also permitted to cover any other town in a District in lieu of District Headquarter. The choice of District Headquarters/towns shall lie with the licensee depending upon their business decision. It is not mandatory under the Licence Agreement to cover 100% of the service area. BSNL has provided cellular coverage to 3552 cities/towns in the country including 319 cities/towns of Karnataka, covering all the DHQs.
BSNL is, however, in the process of expanding its cellular network upto Tehsil headquarters and important towns based on commercial viability during the next financial year (2005-06), the Minister informed the House.
RM/AMA – 160305 BSNL Cellphone USQ 2172
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