Last week, Lumpo, one of the last villages along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh, saw the launch of Airtel's state-funded 4G tower. Due to this, the local population now has access to the modern digital economy.

Reliance Jio, a competitor of Airtel, is already present in Dirang, a neighborhood 38 kilometers from Bomdila that is situated between Tawang and the state capital Itanagar.

The majority of people in Lumpa and the surrounding villages have purchased vehicles as a result of the increase in road infrastructure, but because there is no internet access, they must travel for hours to access government, banking, educational, and shopping services.

According to aerial distance, Lumpo is located around 3-5 kilometres from LAC and about 115 km from the Tawang district administration. While Jio has 10 tower sites on the Indo-Bangla border in Tripula, 19 on the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya, as well as on the Indo-Myanmar border in Mizoram and Manipur, Airtel has increased telecom services on the Tawang border.

In total, Jio has 457 locations near international borders. 383 sites make up Airtel. According to Dorjee, residents must transfer their children to Tawang town for education because even minor academic uncertainties cannot be resolved in the hamlet.

The majority of the residents are blue-collar employees, yet they are aware of the value of data and use it when they travel into town.

Another community close to LAC, Zemithang, which is 17 km away from Lumpo, has recently begun to receive 4G signals from Airtel, however people claim they are irregular.

Phurpha Leki, the leader of Zemithang village, stated that although people have been utilizing the BSNL network for the last 10 to 12 years, it does not provide data connectivity.

Leki claimed that when locals recharge their DTH and mobile phones, they occasionally get high internet speeds on Airtel and BSNL. With a total investment of Rs 2,675 crore, the Center has sanctioned 2,605 4G mobile towers to provide connection to more than 3,721 villages in Arunachal Pradesh, including connectivity at Bum La Pass close to the line of actual control.

The state-owned company was the first to set up a mobile network in Tawang district's challenging topography, including at a height of 13,700 feet in the snow-covered Sela Pass mountain.

A mobile tower is currently being built at Bum La Pass in Tawang, which is more than 14,000 feet above sea level.