BHUBANESWAR: Politics over 5G service launch in Odisha heated up on Thursday with the BJD terming it a mere publicity stunt by the BJP. Training guns at the Centre following the introduction of the high-speed cellular service by Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw here, the ruling party said it has no meaning when large parts of the state are still out of the mobile connectivity loop.
“When there is no access to telecom services in large part of the state, launching of 5G services with such fanfare is only taking the people for a ride,” BJD spokesperson Amar Patnaik told media persons here.
The state has seen what internet connectivity meant during the Covid pandemic, when people had to climb onto the roofs of their houses and students had to climb trees to access better network, he added.
Stating that Odisha is facing serious issues of deficit in teledensity and internet connectivity, particularly in the rural areas, Patnaik stated that the launching of 5G services is not going to address these core issues. As per the latest report of the TRAI, the overall teledensity of Odisha is 75.23 per cent which is at the bottom five of all Indian states.
Even North-East and Jammu and Kashmir have higher density compared to Odisha at 77.98 per cent and 88.18 per cent respectively. The national average is 88.11 per cent. “So you can imagine that when there is no access to telephone services, talking of 4G or 5G services is tall talks and will only increase the digital inequity,” he added.
Besides, the rural teledensity in Odisha is only 62.73 per cent, which means that the benefits will only go to urban areas. Similarly, internet subscription for 100 people in rural areas in Odisha is only 34.51 per cent compared to 88.98 per cent in urban areas. Referring to tribal and backward areas of the state, out of the 310 gram panchayats in Kalahandi, 81 do not have internet connectivity. The KBK region suffers even lower teledensity.
Out of 51,311 villages in the state, 11,000 do not have mobile connectivity. Out of these, 10,000 villages come under LWE affected areas. Besides, 6,278 villages are still without any mobile access or connectivity – the largest in the country, he claimed.