New Delhi: The Union Government will take up the issue of poor telecom and internet services in the Northeast including Meghalaya with both the BSNL and related ministries, Rajya Sabha member Ms Wansuk Syiem was informed on Saturday.
The Ministry of Communications and IT intimated Wansuk that BSNL has already taken up with the Power Grid on the issue of use of its power lines for telecom links.
“BSNL and PGCIL will develop partnership on how to share optical fibre/ bandwidth,” the Ministry said in a communication to the MP.
Syiem had demanded that spare capacity unused by both the Ministry of Power and Defence should be made available for common use. Making a special mention in the Upper House, Wansuk had said that the BSNL is not able to upgrade the telecom network in the region due to its lack of capacity. But both the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Defence are holding spare broad band spectrum capacity which is beyond their use and now lying idle.
This spare capacity should be given to BSNL for development and expansion of badly needed telecom infrastructure in the remote and backward region, she said.
The MP had pointed out that thousands of young boys and girls from the region can be benefitted if mobile, internet and landline telephone system can be upgraded.
There can be number of call centres and BPOs since the young boys and girls are good in English with western assent because of spread of education, she pointed out.
Poor telecommunication services in the North eastern region especially of the state-owned BSNL came in for severe criticism at several meetings convened by the Centre from time to time. During the deliberations all the NE states spoke about the poor quality of BSNL services including slow internet and broadband connectivity.
Considering the poor telecom network telecom regulator TRAI had recommended Rs 2,918 crore investment for improving phone services in the Northeast where there is no coverage in almost half the villages in the region. The regulator has further recommended investment for providing seamless connectivity across National Highways in the North East region covering Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
Tele-density, or phones per 100 people, is as low as 40 to 46 per cent in the region as compared to the national average of over 70 per cent. TRAI has also said that telecom service providers should enter into inter and intra-circle roaming among 2G operators where they have license to operate within 6 months.
DoT has sought TRAI’s view on gap analysis and draw upon detailed investment plan for the region.
The regulator has asked state governments in the Northeast to address issues raised by the telecom operators on priority so that they are encouraged to roll-out services faster, provide land, government building, power for mobile towers, single-window clearance system for all telecom related issues among others.