100 BSNL towers to come up in Odisha soon: Communications minister

BHUBANESWAR: Union minister of state (independent charge) for communications Manoj Sinha on Monday announced that 100 new BSNL towers will come up in the state this year to improve Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) mobile networks in remote areas.
Sinha said this here while inaugurating several projects of his two ministries-railways and communications. He accompanied with Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched 280 rural Wi-Fi hotspots as a part of rural connectivity initiative under the ambitious BharatNet program of the Centre.
He also inaugurated Wi-Fi Choupal initiative for 100 gram panchayats of Jagatsinghpur district and comprehensive pearl archive network (CPAN) at 708 sites by BSNL to improve broadband network. He launched 400 numbers of 2G network towers and 480 numbers of 3G network towers for seamless voice and data connectivity in the state.
Multi-Protocol Lable Switching Transport based Packet Aggregation Network (MNH-PAN) of BSNL were launched to help the landline customer to get high speed internet through broadband connection both in cable network as well as optical fiber network.
As a minister of state for railways, Sinha inaugurated escalator and foot over bridge at Berhampur railway station, passenger amenities and improved circulating area at Talcher railway station through video conferencing from here. He also laid foundation stone of new escalator at Bhubaneswar station.
Sinha and Pradhan also handed over sanitary napkin manufacturing machines donated by Central government PSUs like Nalco, NTPC and Oil companies to common service centres (CSCs). “These units at 400 CSCs will provide employment opportunity to women and girls besides empowering and improving their access to hygienic products. More manufacturing units will be set up at CSC centers in every block,” said Pradhan.
Memorandum of understandings were signed between oil companies (IOCL, HPCL and BPCL) and CSCs for providing LPG services at 2000 CSCs. “Now, CSCs will help ensure accessibility of LPG to rural customers,” said Pradhan.
They also unveiled some corporate social responsibility related projects in Deogarh district. These were laying of foundation stone for community centre for culture at Deogarh town, developmental works in Deogarh Panchayat High School at Adas and primary school at Deogarh and inauguration of a public park at Purunagarh.