Cabinet clears Rs 2,426 cr to upgrade 2G mobile sites to 4G in naxal-hit areas

The Cabinet has approved upgradation of 2G mobile sites to 4G in naxal-hit areas at a cost of Rs 2,426 crore, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday. The project is spread across naxal-affected area in 10 states and the task has been assigned to the state-owned telecom firm BSNL.

"We have 4G here but LWE (left wing extremism) areas have 2G connectivity. To provide 4G in place of 2G facility, the Cabinet under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Rs 2,426 crore for upgradation of 2,542 mobile towers from 2G to 4G. All these towers are in naxal affected area," Thakur told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

He said that indigenously developed core network, radio network and telecom equipment will be used to upgrade the mobile towers to 4G.

"All these sites will be upgraded and run by BSNL," Thakur said.

The 2,542 mobile towers are spread across 10 states. This includes 346 sites in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar 16, Chattisgarh 971, Jharkhand 450, Madhya Pradesh 23, Maharashtra 125, Odisha 483, West Bengal 33, Uttar Pradesh 42 and Telangana 53, the minister said.