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Last Words
Mobile Postman Scheme
By BSNL
24/12/2002
The scheme is designed to provide availability of a phone at the doorstep of every rural household.
Under the scheme, a mobile phone will be provided to a postman(Gramin Sanchar Sevak). When the postman goes to a house to deliver a letter, he will carry the phone with him. Since a postman reaches practically every house, the scheme will enable the phone service to be made available practically to all citizens in his area.
Initially, the scheme is proposed to be operated on a pilot basis in 2000 post offices covering 10,000 villages.
WLL Phones for the scheme will be provided by BSNL. The phones have a display screen on which the units will be displayed. A receipt for the transaction will be provided by the postman. A 25% commission has been proposed for the scheme.
Based on the results of the pilot, the scheme will be extended to more post offices in the country. There are 1,57,000 post Offices in the country, roughly one for every 4 revenue villages.
The number of telephones in rural India has increased from 40 lakhs phones in 1999 to 96 lakh phones today. Village Public Telephones (VPT) have been installed in more than five lakh villages. In the last 10 months alone, nearly one lakh villages that did not have a phone have been provided with a VPT.
This scheme is a part of the government's effort to ensure that the benefits of the telecom revolution are made available to every citizen of rural India.
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Note: 1 lakh = 100,000
Read the full press release at BSNL
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