The government has approved Rs 26,000 crore for installation of 25,000 mobile towers in 500 days. Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw announced.
Central Govt has approved Rs 26,000 cr for installation of 25,000 mobile towers in 500 days. As per the telecom ministry spokesperson, financial support for the project will be provided by Universal Services Obligation Fund and it will be implemented by Bharat Broadband Network.
The installation of new towers will largely support BSNL’s 4G rollout in the next 1.5 years. With the state governments will now give their proposal on where they want the towers to be installed. The state-run telecom operator is expected to launch its 4G services in November now and then target to cover pan-India with 4G in next 18 months. Simultaneously, the company is also targeting to launch 5G services by August 2023, as recently announced by telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explained.
He further said, if this 25,000 is over and above the BSNL bailout package announced recently then it is more harming as it is against the level playing field,” an executive from a telecom company said, adding that BSNL has been given USOF related rollout without going for the tendering process.
The minister also congratulated all states and Union Territories (UTs) for their speedy on-boarding at PM Gati Shakti. Emphasising the motto of Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas, he stated that the commitments from all states and UTs, large as well as small states, are vital in taking Digital India to higher level and in realising the Aatmanirbhar Bharat and trillion-dollar Digital Economy.
