Shillong: The Union cabinet today approved the implementation of a "comprehensive telecom development plan" for the Northeast where thousands of uncovered villages would be connected.
The proposal entails an estimated expenditure of Rs 5,336.18 crore and the plan will be funded through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
"The USOF would fund capital expenditure (Capex) and operational expenditure (Opex) net of revenue for a period of five years," an official communiqué from New Delhi said.
The telecom project would increase the reliability of connectivity in district and state headquarters by providing alternative optical fibre connectivity.
It will also ensure that if there is any problem on one route, the voice and data transfer through other routes would keep the district and state headquarters connected.
The project has been envisaged to cover uncovered villages in the region and to keep seamless connectivity on national highways within the region.
At present, there are 43,200 villages in the Northeast, of which 9,190 villages (21 per cent) are not connected to any mobile network. The project will cover 8,621 villages (20 per cent) out of the 9,190 unconnected villages by 6,673 towers and give seamless connectivity to national highways through 321 mobile towers.
Through this project, 2G mobile coverage would be provided in identified uncovered areas, 2G seamless mobile coverage along national highways in the region and ensuring reliability of and redundancy in transmission network at state capitals and district headquarters in the Northeast.