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Andhra Pradesh to start Internet-based phone service

Close to 2,500 sub-stations will have Points of Presence from where cable operators can take optic fibre to households. Andhra Pradesh is perhaps the first State to have obtained a telecom licence and it can issue phone numbers starting with the ‘797’ series from August this year! It indirectly got the opportunity to start an internet based telephone service ‘without requiring any further registration’ after it obtained permission from the Telecom Ministry for starting its own IPTV — Internet Protocol based Television network — as part of its Fibre Grid project. Although it primarily aims at providing affordable net connectivity in every corner of the State, “the government can provide free telephone services within the region through internet which means you can also skype and have video calls,” explains S. Harikrishna, Executive Director of A.P. State FibreNet Ltd, the special purpose vehicle. Tenders floated Tenders have already been called for making ava

Amravati leads the way in showing how land should be acquired

Land acquisition raises a lot of passion. The Modi government had to beat a hasty retreat on its proposal to exempt five types of projects from mandatory social impact assessment and consent from 70 percent of the affected people in case of PPP projects and 80 percent in case of private sector projects. But being on the concurrent list, state governments have been evolving their own unique laws. Haryana’s law became known for its annuities in addition to one time compensation. What makes the Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh’s scheme spectacularly unique and worthy of emulation on a broader front is its win-win character. Farmers and others in the Vijayawada-Guntur region were incentivized to wholeheartedly surrender their lands for building the new state capital, Amravati. In addition to the monetary compensation, a part of the land acquired would be returned back after the specified number of years duly developed. It is common knowledge that upfront compensation or