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In a bid to improve digital infrastructure in rural areas, 2,14,325 gram panchayats (GPs) have been made service-ready under the BharatNet project in the country, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday. 

Till June, 21,748 mobile towers have been commissioned in the country under various government-funded mobile projects, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The project for saturation of 4G mobile services for providing 4G mobile services in uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas of the country is also under implementation at a total cost of Rs 26,316 crore, he added.

For providing high-bandwidth capacity internet/broadband connectivity and mobile services to remote and rural villages and islands in the country that currently lack coverage, a number of steps and projects have been taken up by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Various optical fibre cable projects are in the works, such as commissioning of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2,312 km), commissioning of Submarine OFC connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (1,869 km), and creation of 225 Km OFC network in Lakshadweep Islands, which have facilitated faster roll out of fixed line broadband/internet services, mobile services (4G/5G) and other high-speed data services in the islands.

"The infrastructure created under the BharatNet project is a national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to the Service Providers, and the same can be utilised to provide broadband services, such as Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, leased lines, dark fibre, backhaul to mobile towers, etc," the minister informed.

For the provision of high-speed internet/data and mobile services in uncovered remote and rural areas of the country, various targeted schemes/projects have been implemented.

These are Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for mobile connectivity in the North Eastern Region, Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Islands (Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands), the scheme for providing mobile services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas, schemes for providing mobile services in Aspirational Districts, the scheme for providing mobile services in the border villages and other priority areas, 4G Saturation scheme to provide mobile coverage in all uncovered villages, etc.