Over 25,000 villages still have no mobile network, 6,000 in Odisha

As per 2011 census, of 5,97,618 inhabited villages, 25,067 have no cellular network. The data has, however, not been updated since December 2020.

Telecom companies may brag about you being able to stream your favourite TV show on top of a mountain or in the middle of a desert in India. But reality check, your phone will be a futile device with no connectivity in over 25,000 villages in the country, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Communications. According to the 2011 census, of the 5,97,618 inhabited villages, 25,067 have no mobile network. The data is, however, dated and has not been updated since December 2020. “Out of 25,067 uncovered villages, around 11,000 villages have been included in Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) schemes. The remaining villages of the country are covered by the Government and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in a phased manner,” said Minister of State Devusinh Chauhan in the Lok Sabha.

The curious case of Odisha
A few weeks ago, residents of three villages in Odisha had decided to boycott the upcoming Panchayat elections demanding mobile network connection. In another incident, residents of a village had invited their MLA to a bogus inauguration of a mobile tower, to sarcastically protest against their plight. Why is it that we hear a lot of such incidents from Odisha? Because, a major chunk of these villages—6,099 to be precise—exists in Odisha. While Madhya Pradesh has 2,612 of them, Maharashtra houses 2,328 of them. In 2018, the ministry said that 43,088 villages in the country did not have network connections. At that time too, Odisha had the most of these villages — 9,940. At the beginning of 2020, the number was 27,721. Unsurprisingly, Odisha topped the list then too, with 6,549 uncovered villages. This information was revealed by the then MoS for Communications Sanjay Dhotre. Contrasting to Odisha, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Kerala and Puducherry, according to the data, have network connections in all villages.

Will things change anytime soon?
However, recently, the Indian government has approved the use of the USOF to provide 4G connectivity in 7,287 villages. The project was estimated to cost of around ₹64.66 billion. More than half of these villages—3,993 of them— are in Odisha. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for provisioning of mobile services in uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts across five States,” an official release from November said. On February 6, Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that around 4,000 mobile towers will be installed across Odisha to ensure that villages in the state get access to internet connectivity. “As many as 6,000 villages in the State remain out of mobile network due to lack of tower. Therefore, to provide net connectivity to all the villages in the State, it has been decided to install 3,933 mobile towers,” said Vaishnaw. The Hindu BusinessLine