Over 24,600 uncovered villages, mostly located in remote and far-flung areas, are expected to be get BSNL 4G services by December 2023, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on Tuesday.
Elaborating on work being carried out by the department in tribal areas on the eve of 'Janjatiya Gaurav Divas', DoT said it has several schemes that have been providing telecom infrastructure and connectivity in areas having a sizable tribal population.
"Under the saturation scheme for providing 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages, many of which are in remote, rural and far flung areas, a project is being executed by BSNL and slated to be completed by December, 2023," DoT said in a statement.
The department said that 2,343 mobile towers have been installed in such areas in states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal under Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-I scheme.
"Another 2,542 mobile towers are being installed under LWE-II scheme," the statement said.
Under Aspirational Districts Scheme, DoT plans to connect 7,789 new villages.