4G connectivity boosting digital economy at Indo-China border, 100% coverage planned

Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh): Government-funded 4G tower of Airtel started services last week in Lumpo, one of the last villages in the district near Line of Actual control in Arunachal Pradesh, paving way for access to new age digital economy for the locals.

Reliance Jio, the bigger rival of Airtel, is already present till Dirang, 38 km from Bomdila– a district between Tawang and state capital Itanagar.

It expects to connect Jang (98 km from Dirang) by mid May and thereafter connect Tawang (40 km from Jang) by June-end. The telecom tower will open the local population to a host of services, officials said.

With improvement in road infrastructure, most of the people in Lumpo and nearby villages have their own vehicles but they need to travel hours for accessing banking, education, shopping, government services etc in absence of a data network.

“We have been using mobile phones for the last 10-12 years on the BSNL network but data doesn’t work. Airtel 4G has just started and now we are able to transact using Google Pay, PhonePe here. Google is also working well now. Online videos are also working,” Dorjee, an electrician based out of Lumpo said.

Lumpo is around 115 kilometer from Tawang district headquarters and approximately 3-5 kilometer near LAC in terms of aerial distance. While Airtel has boosted telecom services on the Tawang border, Jio has 10 tower sites on Indo-Bangla border in Tripula and 19 on Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya as well as on Indo-Myanmar border in Mizoram and Manipur.

Jio has a total of 457 sites on international borders. Airtel has 383 sites. Dorjee said locals are required to send their kids to Tawang town for education as even small doubts related to studies cannot be cleared in the village.

“With 4G services starting here, we will be able to provide online classes for our kids here,” Dorjee said.

Most of the locals here are blue-collar workers but are well versed with the importance of data and they access it when they travel towards town.

Zemithang , another village near LAC, at a distance of about 17 kilometer from Lumpo, recently started getting 4G signals from Airtel but locals said it is not regular.

“We have been getting Airtel signals since the last 1 or 2 years but it doesn’t have a internet facility. We have a few local shopkeepers who collect money then they get mobile recharge done from people at the foothills. We suffer heavy loss due to this. We pay Rs 120-130 and get only usage worth Rs 97. If we get the internet here, we can overcome many issues,” he said.

Leki said that sometimes locals get good speed on Airtel and BSNL when locals get to recharge DTH, and mobile phones. The Centre has approved 2,605 4G mobile towers for providing connectivity to more than 3,721 villages in Arunachal Pradesh with a total outlay of Rs 2,675 crore which includes connectivity at Bum La Pass near the line of actual control.