BSNL to set up telecom towers in border areas

In an attempt to improve telecom services in rural areas, state-owned BSNL would set up about 10,000 towers across the country, many of which would be installed in villages bordering Bangladesh and Pakistan.

This would strengthen the existing communication system in the rural areas, while using state-of-the art technology would check interference from a foreign telecom network, Minister of State for Telecom Sachin Pilot said here.

Telecom service providers are allowed to install towers to receive signals within 500 metres near the international border.

About 630 towers alone would be erected in villages in Rajasthan, he told reporters.

Pilot, who held meetings with senior postal officers earlier today, said all post offices were directed to immediately make payments to NREGA labourers after receiving the wage list and grants from the government.

For BSNL’s products sale, about 10,000 “rural distribution agents” would be employed on a commission basis in the country, he said.

Pilot said that in Rajasthan, 850 employees would be recruited in the postal department by December 31, 2009.

Of the 10,317 post offices, 6,000 would be computerised in Rajasthan by 2012 to bring more transparency and efficiency in the working, he said.

On the broadband (BB) front, all exchanges would be connected to wireless-BB system by June 2010, and 1 million common service centres would be opened to use W-BB in villages, he said.

Tata Energy Research Institute (Teri) will set up solar mobile charging units in 500 villages for mobile users, he said.

Villages in India have a teledensity of up to 16 per cent, and BSNL would help it to increase to 40 per cent with 250,000 BB connections in the coming years, he claimed.

For better speed post services, the postal department would set up nodal offices for delivery of such posts, he said.