BSNL data consumption crosses 400 GB a day in Naxal hit districts

Data war is in full swing as news of high volume of data consumption has surfaced from districts that are hit by Naxalism. Reports of as much as 400 GB a day of data consumption from these areas have surfaced. 

The nine states that are accounted for the purpose are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand,Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

The naxal hit areas have recorded a data consumption of 400 GB a day on 2G network of the sole service provider BSNL all throughout 2016. 

"According to India's state-owned telecom operator BSNL and Indian telecom gear manufacturer VNL that set up telecomnetwork in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) impacted areas, data usage has surged to an all-time high of more than 400Gigabytes per day, thereby ushering in development and prosperity," a joint network by BSNL and Vihaan NetworkLimited today said. 

Setting up of mobile towers in Naxal affected areas were approved by the cabinet in June 2013. The telecom operators were reluctant to go in these areas as it was highly risky.  

BSNL received bids from only two domestic telecom gear makers- Vihaan Networks Limited and Himachal FuturisticCommunications Limited for the project.

Both the vendors jointly installed 2,199 solar powered mobile towers in the naxal affected areas four months before the deadline of December 2016.

The project is claimed to be the "world's largest green mobile network" which provides voice and data to more than 20,000 villages in LWE areas." 

Even tribal areas, which did not have access to even voice connectivity until recently, are now consuming data for banking and other applications. We are proud that we could contribute to this noble venture," VNL's Founder Chairman Rajiv Mehrotra said.

(With PTI inputs)