Lok Sabha Question No. 468 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-19
Subject: Poor Internet Services in Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: C.S. PUTTARAJU, S.P. MUDDAHANUMEGOWDA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.468 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19 th  JULY, 2017

## POOR INTERNET SERVICES IN VILLAGES

468. SHRI C.S. PUTTA RAJU: SHRI S.P. MUDDAHANUME GOWDA

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Ministry is aware that despite its campaign of Digital India several villages in the country do not possess internet connectivity and the ones which possess have extremely poor internet speeds and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (b) the number of villages which are not connected with internet in the country especially in West Bengal, State-wise and district-wise;
- (c) the expected time limit by which each and every village in the country is expected to get high speed internet connectivity; and
- (d) the measures being taken to improve the poor internet speed provided to the villages?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) to (d): National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, renamed as BharatNet, which is one of the pillars of Digital India Programme, is planned to establish a network infrastructure by connecting  all  Gram  Panchayats  (approx.  2.5  lakh)  in  the  country  through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) and by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media, for providing broadband connectivity by all categories of service providers on non-discriminatory basis.

The  project  is  planned  to  be  implemented  in  three  phases.    Under  first  phase  of  the project,  1  lakh  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  are  to  be  connected  by  laying  underground  OFC  by November 2017. Under second phase, connectivity will be provided to remaining 1.5 lakh GPs in  the  country  using  an  optimal  mix  of  underground  fibre,  fibre  over  power  lines,  radio  and satellite media, by March, 2019. A state- of- the-art future-proof network, including fibre between districts and blocks and with for 5G services and Internet of Things era with underground OFC in ring architecture, is planned to be completed by 2023. The State-wise status of BharatNet, as on 09.07.2017, is given at Annexure-I.

State-wise & District-wise details of villages in the country without internet connectivity are  not  available.  Telecom  Service  Area-wise  rural  subscriber  base  of  Internet  as  on  March, 2017  as  submitted  by  service  providers  to  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  is, however, given at Annexure-II.

## State-wise status of NOFN (BharatNet) as on 09.07.2017

## Annexure-I

| S.No.   | States/ UTs          | No. of Gram Panchayats (GPs)- Phase I   | Pipe laid (kms.)   | Cable laid (in kms)   | No. of GPs where Pipe laid   | No. of GPs where Cable laid   | GPs Lit   |
|---------|----------------------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------|-----------------------|------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------|
| 1       | Assam                | 1533                                    | 3799               | 4158                  | 1420                         | 1348                          | 354       |
| 2       | Bihar                | 5754                                    | 12199              | 12940                 | 4967                         | 4742                          | 711       |
| 3       | Chhattisgarh         | 4104                                    | 10213              | 7873                  | 3304                         | 3159                          | 1289      |
| 4.      | Haryana              | 6020                                    | 9776               | 10993                 | 5907                         | 5801                          | 894       |
| 5.      | Jammu & Kashmir      | 388                                     | 427                | 388                   | 214                          | 200                           | 0         |
| 6.      | Karnataka            | 6092                                    | 11784              | 12193                 | 6026                         | 6010                          | 4826      |
| 7.      | Kerala               | 977                                     | 720                | 830                   | 1129                         | 1129                          | 1129      |
| 8.      | Madhya Pradesh       | 12655                                   | 35904              | 31113                 | 12026                        | 11643                         | 3599      |
| 9.      | Maharashtra          | 15301                                   | 26696              | 25129                 | 12664                        | 11843                         | 1992      |
| 10.     | Punjab               | 8049                                    | 9810               | 9153                  | 6989                         | 6745                          | 637       |
| 11.     | Rajasthan            | 8194                                    | 21069              | 20268                 | 7114                         | 7046                          | 1725      |
| 12.     | Uttar Pradesh        | 27974                                   | 48556              | 44678                 | 25363                        | 23409                         | 2785      |
| 13.     | Uttarakhand          | 1863                                    | 2792               | 2636                  | 1503                         | 1463                          | 431       |
| 14.     | West Bengal          | 2637                                    | 5175               | 4876                  | 1822                         | 1791                          | 231       |
| 15.     | Andaman & Nicobar    | 69                                      | 0                  | 0                     | 0                            | 0                             | 0         |
| 16.     | Chandigarh           | 12                                      | 18                 | 19                    | 12                           | 12                            | 12        |
| 17.     | Arunachal Pradesh    | 863                                     | 1558               | 656                   | 609                          | 220                           | 0         |
| 18.     | Nagaland             | 994                                     | 2614               | 1475                  | 831                          | 462                           | 0         |
| 19.     | Manipur              | 904                                     | 333                | 232                   | 154                          | 122                           | 26        |
| 20.     | Mizoram              | 763                                     | 735                | 438                   | 125                          | 73                            | 0         |
| 21.     | Tripura              | 1021                                    | 1688               | 1584                  | 834                          | 810                           | 79        |
| 22.     | Meghalaya            | 1208                                    | 1212               | 525                   | 433                          | 191                           | 0         |
| 23.     | Gujarat              | 6905                                    | 10518              | 9542                  | 5046                         | 4478                          | 1018      |
| 24.     | Puducherry           | 98                                      | 82                 | 92                    | 98                           | 98                            | 101       |
| 25.     | Andhra Pradesh       | 1673                                    | 2627               | 766                   | 520                          | 283                           | 0         |
| 26.     | Telangana            | 2017                                    | 4538               | 4462                  | 2038                         | 2038                          | 206       |
| 27.     | Odisha               | 3860                                    | 8121               | 7970                  | 3109                         | 3108                          | 517       |
| 28.     | Jharkhand            | 2713                                    | 5012               | 4669                  | 1864                         | 1775                          | 529       |
| 29.     | Himachal Pradesh     | 252                                     | 513                | 481                   | 155                          | 153                           | 56        |
| 30.     | Daman & Diu          | 15                                      | 0                  | 0                     | 0                            | 0                             | 0         |
| 31.     | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 20                                      | 0                  | 0                     | 0                            | 0                             | 0         |
| 32.     | Sikkim               | 52                                      | 0                  | 0                     | 0                            | 0                             | 0         |
| 33.     | Lakshadweep          | 10                                      | 0                  | 0                     | 0                            | 0                             | 0         |
| 34.     | Tamil Nadu           | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                     | 0                            | 0                             | 0         |
| 35.     | Goa*                 | -                                       | -                  | -                     | -                            | -                             | -         |
|         | Grand Total          | 124127                                  | 238489             | 220139                | 106276                       | 100152                        | 23147     |

*All the GPs of Goa are already connected with Optical Fibre

## Telecom Service Area wise Rural Internet Subscriber Base as on 31 st March, 2017 (Subscribers in Millions)

| Telecom Service Area   |   Rural Subscriber Base |
|------------------------|-------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh         |                   12.1  |
| Assam                  |                    4.25 |
| Bihar                  |                   11.91 |
| Delhi                  |                    0.69 |
| Gujarat                |                    8.26 |
| Haryana                |                    3.65 |
| Himachal Pradesh       |                    2.1  |
| Jammu & Kashmir        |                    1.87 |
| Karnataka              |                    6.37 |
| Kerala                 |                    6.72 |
| Kolkata                |                    0.76 |
| Madhya Pradesh         |                    7.7  |
| Maharashtra            |                   11.75 |
| Mumbai                 |                    0.5  |
| North East             |                    2.22 |
| Orrisa                 |                    4.93 |
| Punjab                 |                    4.67 |
| Rajasthan              |                    8.71 |
| Tamil Nadu             |                    8.08 |
| Uttar Pradesh (East)   |                   13.41 |
| Uttar Pradesh (West)   |                    7.1  |
| West Bengal            |                    8.8  |
| Total                  |                  136.55 |

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