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In a PIL filed by petitioner Telecom Watchdog, that accused the government of bringing into use the outdated 2G network in Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of the state of Assam, KarbiAnglong and Dima Hasao, a response has been sought from the Central government by the Supreme Court of India on Monday. The alleged act of the government was diametrically opposed to its policy of ‘Digital NorthEast 2022’. In the PIL, the petitioner has raised questions regarding the government’s the rationale behind its decision to provide 2G technology in agreement with BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) in the above mentioned areas despite the fact that it is providing 2G+4G technology in other areas. The PIL went on to say that the same is being done to satisfy the vested interests of two private players. The petitioner had earlier tried to move the High Court regarding the matter, but the court refused to interfere in the matter calling it a policy decision. However, the apex court allowed Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to be impleaded along with issuing a notice to BSNL when it was moved in appeal. The advocates appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan and advocate Pranav Sachdeva, prayed before the apex court for getting the agreement signed between Department of Telecommunications and BSNL on the 16th of January, 2018 that mandated the use of an antiquated 2G technology. The agreement also specified an amount of 2258 crore Rupees that was being incurred in the purchase from two private companies with alleged malafide intention. The petitioners placed reliance on a report of DoT Secretary which shows the decision of the Telecom Commission of procuring 2G+4G technology for a project involving 2173 towers in Meghalaya costing 3,911 crore Rupees and another project involving 4,072 towers in LWE areas costing 7,330 crore Rupees. The Centre is paying for entire capital expenditure and operational expenditure for five years for the projects in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The discrimination in use of technology is being attributed to the serving to interests of two private players. However, the Telecom Commission had on December 21, 2017 decided to procure 2G+4G technology for all the projects. 10 states of LWE areas gave negative feedback regarding the technology, which lead to the decision of using 2G+4G technology following recommendation from IIT-Bombay, which was indeed used except for in the areas mentioned in the petition. Also, the Indian Telegraphy Act places obligation on the government to provide affordable telegraphy services to rural and unconnected areas. Universal Service Obligation Fund is operational for this purpose, which had an unspent amount of 48,393 crore Rupees as on June 30, 2018. As per the apex court, the High Court’s treating the matter as that of policy decision was wrong.
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