New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the "Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)” supported scheme to provide mobile services at 4072 tower locations identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in inhabited uncovered areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) of 96 districts in ten States for Phase-ll project.
Of the total 4072 towers, the Cabinet has proposed 483 tower locations in as many as 18 districts of Odisha.
The total project cost would be Rs 7,330 crore.
As per reports, this network would be used by the security personnel deployed in LWE affected areas. This apart, the project will also provide the mobile services to help the residents in unconnected inhabited villages which would improve the economic activities in the region. It will give impetus to the e-Governance activities in the backward and LWE affected area with the availability of digital mobile connectivity.
The numbers of Tower locations proposed in the ten States are as follows:
The LWE phase-l project for providing the mobile services using 2G technology in LWE Areas with a total sanctioned cost of Rs, 4080.78 Cr is on completion while a total 2335 sites are radiating out of total 2355 as on date.
On the other hand, the MHA, in consultation with the concerned states has identified 4072 tower locations for the communication need of the security personnel deployed in 96 districts of the ten states and provided to DoT on October 27, 2017. The technology proposed in the Phase-ll project has been upgraded according to the requirement of Stakeholders and now 2G and 4G technology is being deployed in this project for providing the mobile connectivity.