subsidy for mobiles, tablets in rural areas

Government lines up Rs 10,000 crore subsidy for mobiles, tablets in rural areas

The Congress-led government plans to charge Rs 300 for a mobile phone which will be bundled with a monthly recharge of Rs 30 for a period of two years

 The government is set to spend Rs 10,000 crore to give away 2.5 crore mobile phones at subsidised prices in rural areas and 90 lakh tablets free of cost to class XI and XII students across government schools, as it continues efforts to woo voters ahead of upcoming state and national elections.

The Congress-led coalition government plans to charge Rs 300 for a mobile phone which will be bundled with a monthly recharge of Rs 30 for a period of two years, according to an internal government document reviewed by ET.

The recharge will entitle the user to 30 minutes of airtime, 30 SMSes and 30 Mbps usage a month.

A separate document shows that the free tablets will come with 75 minutes talk time, 75 SMSes and 500 MB of data usage. For any usage beyond the prescribed limit, the beneficiary will have to pay. The objective of the tablet scheme is to empower the higher secondary students of XI and XII, the telecom department highlighted in the document.