VIJAYAWADA: With the number of cases pertaining to health emergencies increasing in the tribal areas of the State, principal secretary (tribal welfare) RP Sisodia has sought the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to provide satellite phones to the public residing in villages to ensure mobile connectivity under the Central government’s Digital India initiative.
Sisodia participated as chief guest in a day-long workshop on Role of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the Development of Integrated Digital Infrastructure organised by DOT in the city here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that a major portion of the villages and tribal hamlets are situated in the North Coastal region of the State i.e. the Eastern Ghats.
“Due to lack of cellular connectivity, people living in hillocks still face hardships, while communicating with rest of the country during emergencies. In this regard, there is an urgent need to provide them satellite phones so that they can contact people living in the plains.”
‘’The DOT is actively responding to the pleas made by the State government and we are ready to provide the necessary infrastructure and land to the telecom service providers (TSPs) to set up their network towers in tribal areas in order to improve cellular connectivity and prevent complications during medical emergencies ,’’ Sisodia said, adding that DOT should try to provide atleast 3G network services if not 4G, in compliance with the guidelines of the National Telecommunication Policy, 2018.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), New Delhi advisor Sunil Kumar Singhal gave a presentation on Licensing guidelines and regulations for governing ISPs. Addressing the audience, Singhal informed that India has the world’s second-highest number of internet users after China, with around 665 million active users.
“When it comes to fixed-line broadband subscribers, the number has touched 18 million while the figure of wireless broadband subscribers stands at 576 million. Data consumption has been doubling every year and at present the monthly wireless data consumption of the nation stands at a staggering figure of 10.7 GB,” he said.
Explaining the tariff order for internet service providers (ISPs), the TRAI advisor said that ISPs need to report all new/modifications/updates in tariff plans to TRAI within seven working days through its tariff filing software. “TRAI publishes the details on its website for the benefit of customers,” he concluded.