Govt to replace 184,000 faulty radio relay phones

The entire lot of 1,84,000 multi-access radio relay phones connecting rural areas in the country would be replaced within the next 18 months as they have been found to be "faulty", Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

The Centre has received proposals from ten states to fund the establishment of State Wide Area Networks to provide connectivity at block levels through wide area networks and launch e-governance at the grassroot level, Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said.

The proposals have come from governments of Assam, Punjab, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra, he said adding BSNL was coordinating with a number of state governments to set up their wide area network.

Maran said the Universal Service Obligation Fund would be provided to 66,822 villages for installation of village public telephones.

The USO has also entered into agreement for extending financial support to 46,253 rural community phones in villages with population of over 2,000, he said.