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NEW DELHI:Indian Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that as many as 55,669 villages are still without without mobile telephony services.
The current level of rural and urban tele-density stood at 48.79 per cent and 152.36 per cent, respectively, at the end of September.
On August 2014, "The government will spend Rs 20,000 crore to provide mobile connectivity in 55,000 villages, which are still untouched by wireless telephony, in the next five years," Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg had said.
The Minister said that around 5,41,939 villages out of total 5,97,608 villages in the country are already covered with mobile services, leaving only 55,669 villages ie. 9.31 per cent without coverage.
Interestingly, former Junior telecom Milind Deora had said that about 57,271 villages in the country are yet to be connected with mobile services, as per the survey carried out by TERM cells of the Department of Telecommunications in Rajya Sabha in 2012.
There are 5,97,608 inhabited villages in the country.
Highlighting the Narendra Modi government’s effort to ensure tele-connectivity in India, he said that since demand for telecom services is price sensitive, the level of tele-density is also determined by the purchasing ability of the consumers.
"The increase in rural tele-density has gathered momentum in recent times but the wide gap between rural and urban tele- density can be explained by the difference in purchasing power of rural and urban consumers," he said.
The National Telecom Policy (NTP) has the fixed the focus of increasing rural tele-density to 70% by 2017 and 100% by 2020. This brings the level of rural and urban tele-density at 48.79% and 152.36%, respectively, by September-end.
Several steps are being taken to improve telephony services, Prasad said, “Around 2,199 mobile towers are being set up in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states with a total estimated cost of Rs 3,567.58 crore.” As on 30 November 2015, 1,134 mobile towers were operating, he added.