NEW DELHI: As many as 44,922 public phone cubicles or PCOs have shut down within the final three years whereas round 17,000 such services are nonetheless operational throughout the nation, Parliament was knowledgeable on Wednesday. Minister of state for communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to Lok Sabha mentioned that the decline within the variety of PCOs (public name places of work) is attributed to the widespread adoption of cell expertise, elevated tele density, and the supply of inexpensive tariffs for cell companies.
“PCOs are being shut down over a time frame. It has been estimated that round 44,922 PCOs have been shut down within the final three years,” the minister mentioned. In line with the information shared by Sekhar, a complete of 16,958 PCOs are nonetheless working. Of them 1,519 are in rural areas and 15,439 in city areas as on June 30, 2024.
Maharashtra has the best variety of PCOs, with 4,314 in city areas and 42 in rural areas nonetheless operational. It’s adopted by Tamil Nadu with 2,809 PCOs in city areas and 305 in rural areas. Kerala has 1,529 such cubicles in city areas and 557 in rural space. Telangana has 1,115 PCOs in city areas and 37 in rural areas, and Gujarat has 1,174 PCOs in city areas and 26 in rural areas.
Different states have lower than 1,000 PCOs operational whereas a number of states have none of them, the minister mentioned.
