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Telecom Commission (TC ) on Wednesday approved a proposal to distribute free mobiles to families in villages and tablet PCs to students in 11th and 12th classes. Both the projects are expected to be rolled out after 2014 Lok Sabha Election.
The project is expected to cover 2.5 crore individuals in rural households while the free tablet scheme would cover 90 lakh students under a plan that could cost the exchequer nearly Rs 10,000 crore
Along with free phones, the UPA government is also planning to provide free recharge of Rs 360 for a period of two years to users. Following which users will get talk-time of 30 minutes, 30 SMSes and
30 MB for possible Internet usage.
According to the report, Telecom Commission will deliberate on some more issues soon and after that it will be sent to the Cabinet for final approval.
The project to be jointly funded by the Department of Telecom and Universal Services Obligations Fund (USOF) - a fund to facilitate telecom services in rural areas.
The scheme is proposed to be implemented through state-run BSNL which
will float tenders for sourcing of mobile phones and tablets.
The mobile phone scheme, meant for mainly MGNREGA workers, provided they have completed 100 days in 2012, is estimated to cost the government Rs 4,850 crore and allotment will be completed over period of six years.
The devices are being proposed to come with a warranty of three years.
As per the report, the tablet PC will be distributed in three phases where is first phase 15 lakh students will be covered, 35 lakh in second phase and 40 lakh in third phase.
Similarly, the mobile phone scheme is proposed to cover 25 lakh beneficiaries in first year, 50 lakh in second, 75 lakh in third and 1 crore in fourth year.
Under the proposed scheme, students will get tablets for duration of their studies at the school they are enrolled with.
Of the total cost of Rs 4,972.5 crore (for tablets), USOF will fund 60 per cent of the total cost, ie Rs 2,983.5 crore, for the eligible students in rural areas and DoT will fund 40 per cent of the total cost, ie Rs 1,989 crore, for eligible students of urban areas.