The Hindu : National : Half of BSNL's capacity increase for rural areas: Maran

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Friday, Aug 26, 2005

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National

Half of BSNL's capacity increase for rural areas: Maran

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: : Provision of phones in villages has suffered because of the dilution of the telecom policy [by the National Democratic Alliance Government], the Government said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

As a result, the Government was unable to persuade private companies to provide connectivity to rural India and the entire social obligation was being borne by the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said during question hour.

"Private operators have not done much and unfortunately policies have been diluted. As there is no roll-out obligation, naturally private operators decided to operate in creamy layers... It is a fact that this is a problem issue and we can only request private operators.''

Mr. Maran said his Ministry was helpless in connecting over 1,000 tribal villages in Andhra Pradesh because of the naxalite [Maoist] problem. Naxalites had burnt 63 telephone exchanges. Last year alone four exchanges were destroyed. "The police are requesting us not to put up towers. The naxalites feel that the moment we put up the tower, people will inform the police of their movements."

Realising its inability to compel private firms to provide phones in villages, the Government allocated half of the Universal Social Obligation fund as an incentive for companies to go to rural areas. Besides, BSNL decided to earmark half of any capacity increase for rural areas.

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