Cellular communication will appear in 242 settlements of Bashkiria by end of year

Thanks to the implementation of the federal program Bridging the Digital Divide (BDD), cellular communication stations were launched in 125 settlements of the republic in June-July. It is essential that the launch took place in a full-fledged format, with the presence of both GSM and 4G, Gennady Razumikin, Republican Minister of Digital Development of Public Administration, emphasized at an operational meeting of the Republican Government.

He says most of these base stations are installed in the Bashkiria's Beloretsky, Kaltasinsky, Sharansky, Askinsky, and Karaidelsky districts.

“Until the end of 2023, another 117 cellular base stations will be launched,” the minister said.

For the second year in a row, the leader in the number of settlements included in the BDD program is the Beloretsk district. Gennady Razumikin noted the head of the Beloretsk district for good work with the population and the fact that “this program is in great demand for residents since in some settlements there was no connection at all before.”

“242 settlements by the end of the year is a very impressive work,” commented the Head of Bashkiria Radiy Khabirov.

As Bashinform News Agency previously reported, the federal program Bridging the Digital Divide, initiated by the President of Russia, has been implemented on the territory of the Russian Federation since 2014.

PJSC Rostelecom is responsible for providing universal communication services by order of the Russian government.

In 2020, the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia and the territorial departments of Roskomnadzor approved a list of settlements with a population of 100 to 500 people. It is necessary to install equipment for the provision of cellular services and access to the Internet. This list includes 1598 settlements of Bashkiria, the largest number of all regions. Based on this number, the annual quota for subjects is calculated.

Until 2021, the Bridging the Digital Divide program was designed for settlements with a population of 250 to 500 people, in which payphones and collective Wi-Fi access points were installed. The program was implemented in 929 settlements on the republic's territory and ended in 2019.

In 2021, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development developed a new approach to implementing the program to eliminate the digital divide. Now the program is designed for settlements from 100 to 500 people. Instead of payphones and collective Wi-Fi access points, full-fledged base stations are installed, providing coverage with a cellular signal and 4G mobile Internet for the entire settlement. The implementation of the program is planned until 2030.

Author: Galina Bakhshieva