Assembly polls 2021: Telephony divide in rural areas of poll-bound Assam & West Bengal

More than 25,000 villages in India are yet to have mobile network.

Nearly half of the people living in rural areas of the two poll-bound states -- Assam and West Bengal -- do not have mobile connection. The rural teledensity in Assam is slightly over 50 per cent and it is close to 57 per cent in West Bengal. The teledensity, however, is much high in urban areas, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority in India. The total teledensity in these two states has been below the national average for more than a decade now. For the country as a whole too, the urban-rural divide has widened in recent years as the pace of expansion in the countryside has slowed in the last five years. More than 25,000 villages in India are still disconnected.