As many as 5,770 villages in Odisha do not have mobile network connectivity. The information was provided by Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 24, raised by Sulata Deo.
45,406 villages out of total 51,176 villages of the State have mobile network connectivity facilities till December 2022, he stated.
According to official sources, while only two villages each in Jagatsinghpur and Jharsuguda do not have mobile network connectivity, four villages out of total 1,702 villages in Puri district are without mobile network. Highest number of villages (1,247) in Kandhamal district do not have mobile network connection, followed by Rayagada (1,041), Koraput (598), Gajapati (582) and Kalahandi (545) districts.
As per the reports, less than 20 villages in Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Puri, Baleswar, Dhenkanal, Subarnapur, Bolangir, Bargarh and Kendrapada districts do not have mobile network connectivity.
As many as 26 villages in Khurda, 27 villages in Nabarangpur, 29 villages each in Jajpur and Cuttack, 34 villages in Nuapada, 70 each in Angul and Sambalpur, 85 in Keonjhar, 122 each in Boudha and Debagarh, 155 each at Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts,192 villages in Ganjam district, 224 villages in Nayagarh district and 312 villages in Malkangiri do not have mobile network coverage till December 2022.