On the occasion of the celebration of 75 years of independence, the Department of Telecommunications, North East Licenced Service Area (NE LSA), Shillong has commissioned three new towers with state-of-the-art technology for citizens of the rural areas of Meghalaya under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) at Panchiring-A village in South West Khasi Hills District and at Mawpen and Katradua in East Khasi Hills District.

Villagers of seven villages namely Panchiring-A, Mawpen, Katradua, Mawhati, Phodkroh, Panchiring-B, and Upper Panchiring will now avail the state-of-the-art telecom services for the first time after the independence through high-speed 4G mobile broadband services for accessing various e-Governance initiatives of the governments at Centre and State. With this, the total mobile coverage is extended to 5540 villages in Meghalaya by various licensees of the Department of Telecommunications.

As part of AKAM celebrations during the last year, 368 new towers, 743 new Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been added and 507 uncovered villages have been provided with mobile services in the state of Meghalaya.

Ravi Goel, Senior Deputy Director General and Head of North East Licenced Service Area on this occasion informed that extension of 4G services under the Department of Telecommunications’ ambitious ‘4G Saturation Programme’ to additional 1512 villages of Meghalaya has been proposed by North East Licenced Service Area and is under consideration of the Department of Telecommunications and USOF.

Similar proposals for the states of Arunachal, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura have also been sent, he stated. He also said that the Department of Telecommunications is fully committed to extending high-speed broadband services to all the citizens of North East states, particularly those living in remote and far-flung areas under USOF-supported initiatives and various expansion programmes of its licensees.

Goel also informed that to assure the public safety from EMF radiations, India has implemented ten times stricter norms than those prescribed by ICNIRP and for ensuring the same, North East Licenced Service Area regularly tests the BTSs for compliance to these EMF norms, and till date 3557 out of 7190 BTSs have been tested in Meghalaya state and all of these have been found compliant to the norms.

He further informed that with the launch of 5G services in the country, many new small cell 5G mobile towers would be required in the northeast region as well. However, the public should not worry about any adverse health impact on human lives and flora and fauna of the region as a robust institutional framework has been put into place by the Department of Telecommunications to ensure safety from electromagnetic radiations.

As a step towards ease of doing business, the signing of licenses (ISP) for providing Internet services has been decentralised through field units of the Department of Telecommunications in each of the six states under North East Licenced Service Area. Till date, eight ISP licenses have been granted under the new regime.

For affordable internet to all, PM-WANI services are now available through various Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) and their respective Public Data Offices (PDOs). It’s also an opportunity for small vendors and establishments like Fair Price Shops, local shops etc to earn additional income. 1061 hotspots have been commissioned till August 8 in the North East states.