Government dedicates 254 4G towers to Arunachal

Itanagar: As a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives to provide mobile connectivity to every village, the government on Saturday dedicated 254 4G towers to Arunachal Pradesh that will provide connectivity to more than 336 villages in the state.

As per Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, the towers will connect around 70,000 people with the fast internet and seamless connectivity among many villages that have remained unconnected since Independence.

While commissioning the towers, Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us a task to bring all villages into internet connectivity by March 2024. So that they can avail all digital facilities in the country.”

With the purpose to cover every uncovered village with connectivity, the government has approved Rs 36,000 crore to set up around 25,000 new towers in the country.

On the installation of remaining 1,156 4G towers planned under USOF in Arunachal Pradesh, which borders China, Vaishnaw said, “It has already identified the locations and as part of another scheme, i.e 4G saturation scheme, 2,424 4G site sites are to be installed , which includes 270 sites through OFC, 1,237 sites through microwave and 917 through VSAT to bring more connectivity.”

“Over 1,310 Gram Panchayats have been connected with optical fibre under Bharat Net scheme and over 1,156 more Towers have been planned to bring digital inclusion. The 5G services have been recently launched in Itanagar and shall be extended to other areas,” the minister said.

Vaishnaw further said that installation of these towers in difficult terrain, practical difficulties is a clear example of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas with Sabka Prayas. “The importance of communications open doors and opportunities for all. In India with the effective utilization of India Stack i.e. UPI, Aadhar, Telecom Network Infrastructure disbursement and all other services were managed digitally and on a click of a button.”

The function was also attended by the Law and Justice minister Kiren Rijiju, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Union Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan and others.

All the 254 towers are installed by private Telecom service provider Airtel. However, BSNL has been tasked to operationalize the 4G connectivity in most of the border villages due to their strategic importance.

The telecom minister also said that the roll out of 5G in India is fastest than in any part of the world, and the world is taking note of it.

Vaishnaw also noted that the companies added 3,437 5G BTSs in northeast India. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are deploying their 5G networks at a rapid pace. According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) data, Jio has deployed 82,509 sites for 5G services while rival Airtel lags with 19,142 sites for 5G services, as of March 3.