Parliament Question: Telecom connectivity in Odisha

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3054 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19TH MARCH, 2026 TELECOM CONNECTIVITY IN ODISHA 3054 SHRI MANAS RANJAN MANGARAJ:

Will the Minister of Communications be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government has identified mobile network and broadband connectivity gaps in tribal and border districts of Odisha including Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kandhamal and Gajapati;

(b) if so, the number of villages and habitations still facing no coverage/poor coverage, along with details of uncovered National Highway/State Highway stretches and railway corridors, district wise; and

(c) the number of new telecom towers sanctioned and commissioned in these districts during the last three years under USOF/4G saturation projects and other schemes, district wise? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) to (c) Out of 51,176 villages in the State of Odisha (as per data of Registrar General of India), 49,999 villages are covered with mobile connectivity including the tribal and border district.

Further, 6,785 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in Odisha have been made service-ready for internet connectivity under the BharatNet project. District-wise details of villages covered with mobile connectivity in Odisha are at Annex-I.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) identified 27 locations uncovered in Odisha, out of which 05 locations are covered and 03 locations are partly covered.

As on 28.02.2026, 3,003 telecom towers were commissioned in last 3 years under various mobile schemes funded by Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), in Odisha. District-wise number of telecom towers commissioned in last 3 years in Odisha are at Annex-II.

1Annex-I Annex-I referred to in the reply to parts (a) to (c) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No.

3054 to be answered on 19th March, 2026, raised by Hon’ble Member of Parliament, regarding “Telecom Connectivity in Odisha” District-wise details of villages covered with mobile connectivity in Odisha No. of villages have mobile Sl. No. District Total Villages connectivity 1 Angul 1887 1848 2 Balangir 1777 1772 3 Baleshwar 2925 2924 4 Bargarh 1195 1191 5 Baudh 1182 1139 6 Bhadrak 1295 1290 7 Cuttack 1970 1956 8 Deogarh 835 785 9 Dhenkanal 1199 1195 10 Gajapati 1609 1560 11 Ganjam 3204 3109 12 Jagatsinghpur 1297 1295 13 Jajapur 1826 1804 14 Jharsuguda 354 354 15 Kalahandi 2274 2179 16 Kandhamal 2578 2462 17 Kendrapada 1553 1538 18 Keonjhar 2105 2075 19 Khurda 1541 1523 20 Koraput 2047 1959 21 Malkangiri 1036 929 22 Mayurbhanj 3940 3875 23 Nabarangpur 880 875 24 Nayagarh 1659 1570 25 Nuapada 663 653 26 Puri 1702 1696 27 Rayagada 2671 2528 28 Sambalpur 1256 1229 29 Subarnapur 951 941 30 Sundergarh 1765 1745 Total 51,176 49,999 2Annex-II Annex-II referred to in the reply to parts (a) to (c) of Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No.

3054 to be answered on 19th March, 2026, raised by Hon’ble Member of Parliament, regarding “Telecom Connectivity in Odisha” District-wise number of telecom towers commissioned in last 3 years under various mobile schemes funded by Digital Bharat Nidhi, in Odisha S.N. District Tower commissioned in last 3 year 1 Angul 72 2 Balangir 15 3 Baleshwar 1 4 Bargarh 9 5 Bhadrak 3 6 Boudh 51 7 Cuttack 14 8 Debagarh 62 9 Dhenkanal 23 10 Gajapati 350 11 Ganjam 89 12 Jajapur 26 13 Jharsuguda 3 14 Kalahandi 238 15 Kandhamal 622 16 Kendrapara 2 17 Kendujhar 52 18 Khordha 0 19 Koraput 300 20 Malkangiri 144 21 Mayurbhanj 79 22 Nabarangpur 37 23 Nayagarh 73 24 Nuapada 41 25 Puri 0 26 Rayagada 452 27 Sambalpur 65 28 Subarnapur 9 29 Sundargarh 171 Total 3,003 ***** 3