Rural M'rashtra to get largest mobile network;Punjab the least

New Delhi, Aug 27 (UNI) The Department of Telecom (DoT) has decided to provide mobile telephony in about two lakh villages of the country in about 18 months, Communications Ministry said today.

It plans to instal about 11,000 towers to provide the service in all villages with a population of 500 and above, adding installation of towers is likely to be completed in 12 to 18 months.

The Ministry said work for setting up about 7,900 towers in 500 districts in 27 states has already begun. Of these, over 6,000 towers are being installed by state-owned BSNL and the remaining by six private companies.

About 1,100 towers have already been set up and mobile telephone services launched, the Ministry said in a statement.

The largest number of 1,017 towers are to be set up in 33 districts of Maharasthra, while the least number of 13 towers are to be insalled in three districts of Punjab, the statement added.

UNI SAA MP AS1725