Telangana: 4G services soon in uncovered 425 villages

Hyderabad: The Union Ministry of Communications and Electronics has approved a project for the expansion of 4G mobile services in the uncovered 29,616 villages in the country, including a few in Telangana.

State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been awarded the work with an estimated cost of Rs 26,000 crore on Wednesday.

The officials said there are more than 400 villages in Telangana which are not covered under the existing 4G mobile services. KomaramBheem Asifabad district has the highest number of villages which do not have 4G services till date.

According to the statistical data released by the Central agencies, the total number of 425 villages, out of 10,434 revenue villages, have not been equipped with the 4G service facility in Telangana. Other villages with no 4G services are Adilabad, Mulugu, Bhadradri Kothagudem and Mahabubabad districts.

The first big reason was most of these habitations were in the remote forest zones where the installation of mobile network infrastructure was difficult. "Old Adilabad district and part of Warangal and Khammam districts have deep forests. It requires massive exercise to reaching the 4G service to the remote villages.

Sources said that the major task before the state and Union governments would be to find a suitable location to set up the towers in these habitations. An official committee with tribal and forest departments in coordination with the IT wing will identify the locations to install the towers to extend 4G services in these areas. It will take about six months to identify the locations and start the works, officials add.

4G services are useful for interactive programmes in the government educational institutions and also extend the basic healthcare and other civic services to the locals in the state. "Lack of 4G services is a big stumbling block to promote education in those habitations which are not covered under the advanced mobile network services," a senior official said. The data has made it clear that most villages in the agency areas were not provided the 4G services, officials said, adding that the reasons are many for not making people to access the services.