Government has plans to extend mobile coverage to all the 55,669 unconnected villages in the country over the next five years. At present, 5.41 lakh villages out of the total 5.97 lakh are covered by mobile services. An official in the Telecom Ministry said, mobile coverage to the villages not covered so far is likely to be provided over five years in a phased manner.<br/><br/>Odisha tops the list with 10,398 villages, followed by Jharkhand 5,949 and Madhya Pradesh 5,926. The official said, the Department of Telecom has taken several measures for expansion of telecom services in rural and remote areas, including setting up of mobile towers in the naxal affected states at an estimated cost of 3,500 crore rupees.