BHUBANESWAR: Union Railways, Communication and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan rolled out 5G services in Odisha on Thursday. The services will be available in eight cities and towns in the first phase.
The high-speed cellular services will now be provided by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in the state. The operators have installed 510 base transceiver station (BTS) towers, including 410 by Jio, to provide the services.
Speaking at the launch event organised at SOA university here, Vaishnaw said Odisha is among the states where the fifth-generation service is being rolled out in the first phase that will complete by March. The service is now available in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and the entire state will be covered with a 5G network by December 2024, he said.
Other cities and towns where the service will be available by March include Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Puri, Balasore and Angul. On October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the service at four places in the country including the SLS Memorial Residential School at Pahadpur, the native village of President Droupadi Murmu in the Mayurbhanj district.
Vaishnaw said an investment of around Rs 3 lakh crore would be made in the country for the high-speed cellular network, which will bring a revolution at the grassroots level as it will not only be available for cell phone users, but also for many public services like health and education.
“The Narendra Modi government has sanctioned Rs 5,600 crore for setting up 5,000 mobile towers in and around 7,000 villages in Odisha. The towers will be installed by August 15, 2024. The state has also been allocated Rs 1,080 crore for laying of fibre optics for high-speed broadband service under the Bharat Net project,” he said.
The Union ministers also inaugurated 100 mobile towers set up in Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Rayagada districts. Pradhan said the rollout of 5G service is a breakthrough that will usher in infinite possibilities, help realise PM Modi’s vision of Purvodaya and pave the way for a new era in Odisha.