Over Rs 8,000 crore telecom projects face delays in north east

• The government’s ambitious plan to provide seamless connectivity across the country’s north-eastern region has made little headway despite the Union Cabinet approving a comprehensive plan more than three years back.
• Budgetary estimate for the plan that would have provided a stable telecom network in the north-east has gone up from the originallyenvisaged Rs 5,300 crore to over Rs 8,000 crore.
• However, not even one project has been completed so far.
• The states that would be covered as part of the project are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
• The projects are critical in nature as they require work in the border areas and strategically-sensitive zones.
• According to the originally-envisaged plan, a total of 8,621 villages (and the national highway region around them) had to be provided mobile coverage through the project that received approval from the Cabinet in September 2014.

Boosting Telecom Connectivity to North East India

• To step up the telecom connectivity in the Northeast Region, the Centre has planned an investment of over Rs 15,000 crore – which includes setting up of mobile towers under the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the northeastern region as well as increasing broadband connectivity through the flagship BharatNet project.
• This plan includes expanding connectivity to some of the strategically important states — including those such as Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim that share borders with China.
• “Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for the Northeastern region envisages to provide mobile coverage to 8,621 identified uncovered villages by installation of about 6,673 mobile towers and installation of 321 mobile tower sites along National Highways. To cover these uncovered villages, the location is to be decided after survey by Universal Service Provider,” according to information furnished by the DoT in Parliament.

By: Ziyaur Rahman