SHILLONG: At a time when the nation is going gung ho about Digital India, scores of villages in Garo Hills are struggling to secure basic mobile connectivity.
People in remote areas of Garo Hills still dream of having proper cellular connectivity as no private or Government owned cellular companies have made any attempt to reach these areas so far.
Such villages exist in all five districts of Garo Hills and ironically even hamlets that have access to mobile connectivity complain that the services are far from satisfactory.
Last year, Late Tura MP, Purno A Sangma had called for the need to improve cellular connectivity in the State and the Northeast as a whole and had pointed out that people of his constituency were asking for mobile towers instead of developmental schemes like roads and other infrastructure thus underlining the need for improvement in this sector.
When contacted, an expert in the field of telecom said that people in Garo Hills were facing connectivity issues simply due to lesser number of towers.
He however added that mobile companies were currently investing quite a good amount in the North East.
The expert also said that some companies were coming up with a new technology called platinum 3G which will have better coverage area with lesser towers and the idea has been developed keeping in mind the apprehension people have towards the supposedly harmful radiations mobile towers emit.
The new technology is likely to be rolled out in the next three to six months.
It may be mentioned that the Centre had recently announced a comprehensive Rs. 5,336.18 crore mega Telecom Development Plan for the North East.
