Digital connectivity to 55,669 villages by 2019- DoT

NarendraModi led present NDA government seems very serious about digitization plan of the country and is making all the right moves in the direction. The latest in the list of ‘Digital India’ plan, is a project that will be commissioned to connect 8,621 villages in the north-eastern region by installing 321 mobile tower sites by September 2017.
A comprehensive telecom development plan for the north-eastern region at an estimated cost of Rs. 5,336.18 crore has already been approved for the same.
According to a note prepared by Department of Telecom (DoT) about the progress made during the last two years, government also plans to provide mobile connectivity in 55,669 villages by March 2019 in a phased manner.
On rural connectivity, the note says that DoT has completed laying of optic fibre for high speed broadband in 48,199gram panchayats as on April 25, 2016.Regarding connectivity in areas affected by left wing extremism (LWE), a total of 1517 towers out of 2199 identified by Ministry of Home Affairs have started functioning till date, the DoT said.
The government has also adopted BharatNet project in mission mode for deeper digital penetration in rural areas to connect all 2.50 lakh gram panchayats, which have over 600 million people. The project will support e-governance services, e-commerce, tele-medicine, tele-education, financial services, among others.
"This would open up new avenues for access service providers like mobile operators, cable TV operators, among others, to launch next generation services and spur creation of local employment opportunities," the DoT said.