Lok Sabha Question No. 2258 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-15
Subject: Rural Telecom Service
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: A.P. JITHENDER REDDY, RAJESH KUMAR DIWAKAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2258 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15 TH  MARCH, 2017

## RURAL TELECOM SERVICE

2258.  SHRI A.P. JITHENDER REDDY: SHRI RAJESH KUMAR DIWAKER:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  total  number  of  mobile  phone  subscribers  in  the  country,  State/UT  and operator-wise including BSNL and MTNL;
- (b) whether a large number of villages particularly in backward areas of the country are yet to be provided with the mobile phone connectivity and if so, the details thereof including the number of such villages, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the private telecom service providers are not launching mobile services in  the  backward  areas  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  taken  by  the Government in this regard along with the other steps taken by the Government to bring mobile services to the said areas;
- (d) whether the Government has approved the long pending compensation for the BSNL for the deficit incurred in operating rural landline connections and if so, the details thereof including the source of the said compensation;
- (e) whether  the  Indian  Telegraph  Rules,  1951  would  be  amended  for  the  said compensation and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether  the  said  subsidy  would  be  utilized  to  establish  more  rural  landline connections across the country and if so,  the details thereof, State/UT-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The State/UT-wise and operator-wise details of mobile phone subscribers in the country is at Annexure-I.
- (b) State-wise details of uncovered villages as per survey conducted in 2014 based on census 2011 may be seen at Annexure-II.

(c) The private Telecom Service Providers (TSP) are not launching mobile services in the backward areas.  The government has taken up the following schemes to bring mobile services to the said areas:

-  Left  Wing  Extremist  (LWE)  areas: Government  has  provided  2186 Mobile  towers  at  locations,  as  identified  by  MHA  (Ministry  of  Home Affairs), in 10 states in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
-  North-East  Region  (NER): Government  has  approved  the  scheme  to provide  mobile  connectivity  to  8621  villages  of  NER  included  as  part  of Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for NER.
-  Islands: Schemes to connect 172 villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been approved in December 2016.

(d) Yes. TRAI had recommended for continuation of support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to BSNL for sustenance of rural wire line connections installed before  01.04.2002  w.e.f  18.07.2011.  The  amount  of  support  for  the  first  year  of  Rs. 1500 Crore has been paid to BSNL in FY 2013-14 and support of Rs. 1250 Crore has been approved for payment in 2016-17.

- (e) Amendment to the Indian Telegraph Rules 1951 by way of gazette notification is under process.
- (f) The subsidy support is for rural landline connections installed by BSNL prior to 01.04.2002.

Contd…3/-

## State/UT-wise and Operator-wise details of subscribers in the country (as on 31.12.2016)

|    | States/Circle     | BSNL     | MTNL    |    Bharti |   Reliance |   Vodafore | Tata     |      Idea |   Aircel | Telenor   | Sistema   | Quardant   |    R-Jio |
|----|-------------------|----------|---------|-----------|------------|------------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------|-----------|------------|----------|
| 1  | Andhra Pradesh    | 9820986  | --      |  25112612 |    3681215 |    7030425 | 4023233  |  17448973 |  2544880 | 5634582   | --        | --         |  6356061 |
| 2  | Assam             | 1417734  | --      |   6281027 |    1358951 |    3920440 | --       |   1293198 |  5663035 | --        | --        | --         |   979779 |
| 3  | Bihar             | 4024249  | --      |  30102995 |    3269964 |    9706144 | 1477175  |  12040995 |  7436130 | 10138958  | --        | --         |  4060254 |
| 4  | Delhi             | --       | 2327549 |  11366485 |    5815374 |   10516019 | 1687228  |   6368028 |  6731212 | --        | 699544    | --         |  5370396 |
| 5  | Gujarat           | 4324899  | --      |   8754131 |    9925364 |   19750344 | 2584076  |  12850449 |    17063 | 8424971   | 155976    | --         |  5593057 |
| 6  | Haryana           | 3578717  | --      |   3382750 |    1574039 |    5791557 | 2649113  |   5042697 |     3092 | --        | --        | --         |  1918855 |
| 7  | Himachal Pradesh  | 1990138  | --      |   2932704 |    1580165 |     745499 | 52991    |    815885 |  1119545 | --        | --        | --         |   665843 |
| 8  | Jammu & Kashmir   | 1471105  | --      |   3505002 |     949459 |     980533 | --       |    623267 |  2867502 | --        | --        | --         |   875883 |
| 9  | Karnataka         | 6876305  | --      |  22001544 |    5218438 |    7911034 | 6749222  |   9630391 |  3365649 | --        | 853274    | --         |  4521864 |
| 10 | Kerala            | 6886761  | --      |   4567433 |    1492938 |    7692872 | 1393031  |  11018971 |   378558 | --        | 261063    | --         |  2414402 |
| 11 | Kolkata           | 856129   | --      |   4909018 |    4318179 |    5589894 | 2580243  |   2541949 |  4314664 | --        | 430489    | --         |  2603998 |
| 12 | Madhya Pradesh    | 4745564  | --      |  13665329 |    9370161 |    6749495 | 4416062  |  23496338 |    20694 | --        | --        | --         |  4012836 |
| 13 | Maharashtra       | 6445149  | --      |  13998508 |    4393692 |   18894289 | 5681044  |  25488200 |  2773255 | 8098638   | --        | --         |  4994893 |
| 14 | Mumbai            | --       | 1298346 |   6164308 |    4707876 |    8983030 | 2758760  |   4428983 |  2970326 | --        | --        | --         |  3314694 |
| 15 | North East        | 1647856  | --      |   4102960 |     368596 |    1606835 |          |    610574 |  3384813 | --        | --        | --         |   571525 |
| 16 | Odisha            | 4807936  | --      |  10981096 |    2121470 |    4352964 | 1982403  |   2042172 |  4664702 | --        | --        | --         |  1841478 |
| 17 | Punjab            | 4468872  | --      |   8408589 |    1712133 |    5260726 | 2483534  |   6609685 |  1151413 | --        | --        | 2999158    |  3284526 |
| 18 | Rajasthan         | 5126562  | --      |  20423230 |    5965929 |   12082927 | 1317865  |   8074084 |  6663523 | --        | 1625425   | --         |  3595620 |
| 19 | Tamil Nadu        | 8885962  | --      |  18317695 |    5354554 |   16348225 | 4100347  |   6422898 | 21705386 | --        | 555764    | --         |  4846319 |
| 20 | Uttar Pradesh (E) | 10510884 | --      |  22524622 |    8380772 |   19716657 | 3600127  |  11778588 |  7158862 | 13718269  | --        | --         |  4212075 |
| 21 | Uttar Pradesh (W) | 5325719  | --      |   8696883 |    5466988 |   11851566 | 3076434  |  15679475 |   844454 | 8454081   | 112436    | --         |  3697898 |
| 22 | West Bengal       | 1776353  | --      |  15653684 |    3518673 |   19205455 | 364898   |   6212076 |  5096795 | --        | 1183642   | --         |  2425388 |
|    | Total :           | 96787880 | 3625895 | 265852605 |   86544929 |  204686930 | 52977786 | 190517876 | 90875553 | 54469499  | 5877613   | 2999158    | 72157644 |

## Contd….4/-

Annexure-II State-wise list of Uncovered Villages as per survey conducted in 2014 based on

## census 2011

| Sr.No.   | Name of the State/UT   | Total number of inhabited villages   |   No. of Uncovered Villages |
|----------|------------------------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh         | 16335                                |                        3812 |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh      | 5258                                 |                        2886 |
| 3.       | Assam                  | 25372                                |                        2885 |
| 4.       | Bihar                  | 39073                                |                        2534 |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh           | 19567                                |                        4041 |
| 6.       | Goa                    | 320                                  |                          65 |
| 7.       | Gujarat                | 17843                                |                        1275 |
| 8.       | Haryana                | 6642                                 |                           2 |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh       | 17882                                |                        2416 |
| 10.      | Jammu & Kashmir        | 6337                                 |                         460 |
| 11.      | Jharkhand              | 29492                                |                        5949 |
| 12.      | Karnataka              | 27397                                |                           0 |
| 13.      | Kerala                 | 1017                                 |                           0 |
| 14.      | Madhya Pradesh         | 51929                                |                        5926 |
| 15.      | Maharashtra            | 40959                                |                        4792 |
| 16.      | Manipur                | 2515                                 |                         610 |
| 17.      | Meghalaya              | 6459                                 |                        2389 |
| 18.      | Mizoram                | 704                                  |                         258 |
| 19.      | Nagaland               | 1400                                 |                         137 |
| 20.      | Odisha                 | 47675                                |                       10398 |
| 21.      | Punjab                 | 12168                                |                          91 |
| 22.      | Rajasthan              | 43264                                |                         770 |
| 23.      | Sikkim                 | 425                                  |                          23 |
| 24.      | Tamil Nadu             | 15049                                |                         113 |
| 25.      | Telangana              | 10347                                |                        1009 |
| 26.      | Tripura                | 863                                  |                           2 |
| 27.      | Uttar Pradesh          | 97814                                |                         266 |
| 28.      | Uttarakhand            | 15745                                |                        1876 |
| 29.      | West Bengal            | 37469                                |                         487 |
| 30.      | Andaman & Nicobar      | 684                                  |                         190 |
| 31.      | Puducherry             |                                      |                           0 |
| 32.      | Dadra & Nagar Haveli   |                                      |                           5 |
| 33.      | Daman & Diu            |                                      |                           1 |
| 34.      | Lakshadweep            |                                      |                           1 |
|          | TOTAL                  | 597608                               |                       55669 |

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