New Delhi; August 31, 2016: Recognizing that combating insurgency in India’s Red Corridor must include the provision of a robust communication network as an important element of its strategy, the Ministry of Home along with Department of Telecom (DoT) decided to build a mobile phone network in the most-affected regions across ten Indian States. These include some of the most hostile terrain in the country, with practically no roads, power or security. Against such imposing challenges, some 2199 solar-powered mobile communication towers have been setup in a record time of less than a year, altering not just the geographical, but critically, the social landscape of the area. Deprived citizens, almost living on the edge of poverty now have a window to the rest of the world, as they start using mobile phones to connect with families, employers, doctors and local bureaucrats and politicians, boost their productivity through better education, access to agricultural inputs and markets, finance and banking and avenues for small businesses, and slowly start moving on the path to progress. Just how much integration and social change this investment will bring about can only be measured rightfully in the years to come.
On August 20, 2014, the Union Cabinet approved the extension of mobile telephonic services to 2,199 locations affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. There are 106 districts across 10 states which have been identified by the government as LWE-affected districts. The project was executed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL has successfully installed towers at these locations giving network coverage to many villages as well as security forces camps and important locations with the help of domestic vendors Vihaan Networks Ltd and HFCL.
Vihaan Networks Limited (VNL), the global pioneer in designing, developing and manufacturing of Telecommunications network solutions, who was executing majority portion of this project has installed around 1,315 solar empanelled towers in the LWE region in record time. India’s cell phone revolution has helped shape the economic development and improved governance for its citizens, leading to game-changing reforms such as better targeting of subsidies. With a vision to make its citizen’s part of the Indian growth story the government has unveiled a scheme to provide connectivity in the naxal affected areas in order to integrate this region with urban India. The people in these areas were deprived of their right to connectivity since last 20 years are now connected to rest of the world through made & developed in India mobile system and would be a game changer for these areas.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajiv Mehrotra, Chairman – Vihaan Network Ltd (VNL), said “It is a proud moment for us as we been able to connect millions of rural consumers, through our efficient infrastructure and expertise in Solar enabled telecom equipments. When we talk of integrated socio-economic development, it takes into account many areas that can benefit from faster access and enhanced productivities by using voice & data connectivity be it security, surveillance, connectivity and information access. In areas which are bereft of basic infrastructure, mobile connectivity underlines the solution to many.”
So what domestic telecom infrastructure provider VNL has accomplished Connectivity in 10 states, 90 districts, 12,700 villages covered, 39, 00,000 mobile connections, 1.1 crore connected citizens Connected and enabled security forces. The project is Funded by the Dot arm USOF, the total project cost was Rs 3567.58 crores this includes CAPEX as well as O&M for a period of 5 years.
About VNL
VNL specializes in design and manufacture of telecom equipment. With over 35 years of experience and expertise in telecommunications, VNL offers security and strategic communications solutions for military and disaster management applications as well as a wide range of industrial and civil application scenarios. VNL is the first Indian company to realize the potential of research and development of telecom technology. We are creating new benchmarks in telecom innovations, at our Design Centre at Gurgaon.