Tamil Nadu to Build 223 Mobile Towers in Rural Areas

Chennai, Jan 17 (PTI) Tamil Nadu is in the process of establishing 223 mobile towers in rural areas under the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) scheme, with 197 mobile towers already completed, a senior official from the Department of Telecom said on Friday.

The remaining 26 locations, situated in remote areas, are expected to have mobile tower facilities by March 2025 to ensure seamless mobile connectivity.

Department of Telecom Tamil Nadu DDG M Chandrasekar provided details about three schemes launched earlier in the day by the Union Minister for Communications, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, in Delhi.

Briefing reporters, he said the Centre has undertaken a mission to address the telecom gap in rural areas by establishing mobile towers under the DBN scheme, funded by the government.

The mobile tower projects under the DBN scheme aim to provide enhanced network coverage in remote areas and deliver seamless mobile services at affordable prices to regions previously disconnected from mainstream telecommunications, he said.

"In Tamil Nadu, 223 locations have been identified for mobile towers under the DBN scheme. For instance, if a BSNL customer is in a remote village with a DBN mobile tower, they can enjoy network services. However, customers of other network operators will not have access," he said.

To address this, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has entered into an arrangement called Intra-Circle Roaming (ICR) to allow customers of other operators, such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, to use BSNL's tower facilities in remote locations.

Similarly, BSNL subscribers can also access mobile networks in remote areas where Bharti Airtel or Reliance Jio have set up towers under the DBN scheme, he added.

This initiative is expected to enable rural and remote populations to access essential services such as e-governance, education, and healthcare, leading to the upliftment of people in these areas, he said.

Speaking about the launch of the Sanchar Saathi mobile application, Chandrasekar explained that while the service was earlier available as a portal, it has now been launched as a mobile application for both Android and iOS users.

Through the app, customers can check the number of mobile connections in their name. If any unauthorized connections are identified, they can notify the Department of Telecom, which will then disconnect those services, he said.

He further noted that if a mobile phone is lost, users can immediately block the handset using the Sanchar Saathi app by providing the unique IMEI number.

"In Tamil Nadu, 1.44 lakh mobile devices have been blocked so far, and 17,230 lost handsets have been recovered and returned to their rightful owners," he said.

He also mentioned that Tamil Nadu has around 9 crore active mobile subscribers.

Chandrasekar said the department had also blocked 7.5 lakh fraudulent telecom connections in the state.

Regarding the National Broadband Mission (NBM) 2.0, launched by Scindia, he said the mission aims to accelerate India's digital transformation and enhance global competitiveness.

Key benefits of NBM 2.0 include providing broadband connectivity to 90 per cent of institutions, such as schools, public health centres, anganwadi centres, and panchayat offices, by 2030.

Additionally, NBM 2.0 aims to increase the speed of fixed broadband connectivity from the current national average of 63.55 Mbps to 100 Mbps by 2030, he added.