Telephones For All AP Villages By Feb

Andhra Pradesh can expect all its 26,613 villages that have a population of more than 100 persons, to be connected by telephone by February 2012.

Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, on Thursday said that as many as 24,608 of the 26,613 inhabited villages in Andhra Pradesh were connected by telephone as on January 31st, 2011.

Replying to a question raised in Parliament, Pilot said that 5,74,673 villages in the country have telephone connectivity through the Village Public Telephones (VPTs).

Pilot revealed that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had signed 2 agreements for the provision of VPTs with subsidy support from the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund.

The first agreement was signed in November 2004 to provide subsidy support for the provision of VPTs in 62,302 villages in the country, excluding villages with population less than 100 persons, villages lying in deep forests and villages affected by insurgency.

The second agreement was signed by BSNL on February 27th, 2009, for the provision of VPTs in all the remaining 62,443 inhabited villages as on October 1st, as per the 2001 Census, and irrespective of the criteria of population, remoteness, accessibility and law & order situations.

The remaining villages are expected to be covered through VPTs by February 2012, the MoS stated.

Courtesy: INN