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TRAI recommends Rs 2,918 cr plan for improving telecom services

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V&D Bureau
New Update

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended Rs 2,918 crore investment for improving telecom services in the North Eastern states.

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"Keeping in view the future bandwidth required for broadband in the NER, the core network has been strengthened to provide connectivity with redundancy/diversity between all State capitals and State capitals and the District Headquarters," the telecom regulator mentioned in its statement.

"Investment has been estimated for providing 2G mobile coverage in towns and villages having population of more than 250 persons. As the penetration of 3G services is very poor in NER, initially it has been planned to provide 3G services in all urban areas in the NER," it said.

In addition, the Authority has also recommended investment requirement for providing seamless connectivity along all National Highways in the NER.

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The recommendations also contain certain policy and supporting action that would be necessary for successful implementation of this programme.

Under the policy, the discount of 2% of AGR of license fee to TSPs who cover at least 80% of the habitations with a population of 250. Providing subsidy from USO Fund for bandwidth charges through satellite connectivity. The subsidy for installation of solar power units at telecom towers.

According to the TRAI, PGCIL and BSNL to lease their dark fibre to other TSPs and also to reduce their bandwidth leasing charges in the NER to make them comparable to those charged in other parts of the country. The TSPs in the NER to enter into inter and intra circle roaming agreements amongst themselves within a period of six months for all the BTS along the National Highways passing through NER States.

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On 22nd April, 2013, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) requested Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to carry out a gap analysis and prepare an investment plan for providing quality telecom services in the North Eastern states. The intention was to formulate a comprehensive telecom plan for revamping and augmentation of telecom services in North Eastern region.

The North Eastern Region (NER) comprises these states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The region is characterized by extremely tough terrain with relatively poor infrastructure, such as rail, roads, electricity and telecom. Attempts have been made in the past to increase telecom connectivity and teledensity in the region.

However, the results so far have not been very encouraging.

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As on May, 2013, of the eight states in the NER, teledensity in five States is below the national average wireless teledensity of 70%.

Similarly, in four States, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram, the percentage of villages not having mobile coverage ranges from 55.9% to 24.3%. This is very high when compared with most other States where the percentage of uncovered villages is less than 10%.

To assess the present status of telecom infrastructure and the gaps in the NER, detailed consultation was held with various stakeholders, namely, Universal Service Obligation Fund Administrator (USOFA), Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) operating in the NER, Public Sector Undertakings entrusted with laying optical fibre cable in the NER viz. BSNL, Railtel and PGCIL.

As the state governments are vitally important stakeholders in this exercise, four teams of senior officers of TRAI met the chief ministers and top-level state government officers of some the NER States to understand their perspective and concerns about the telecom infrastructure in their states.

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