Lok Sabha Question No. 5343 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-28
Subject: BSNL Mobile and Landline Connections in Andhra Pradesh
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: YERRAM VENKATA SUBBAREDDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5343 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28 th      MARCH, 2018

## BSNL MOBILE AND LANDLINE CONNECTIONS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

5343. SHRI Y.V. SUBBA REDDY:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of mobile and landline connections in the State of Andhra Pradesh during each of the last three years, telecom service provider-wise and district-wise;
- (b) the reasons for decline, if any, in the number of mobile and landline connections of BSNL in the State; and
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  arrest  the  said  decline  in  BSNL's connections?

## ANSWER

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

(a) Licenses for providing telecom services are given service area wise. Accordingly the data is maintained in the Department service area wise and not district wise. The operator wise number of mobile and landline telephone connections in  Andhra Pradesh service area, which includes the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, during each of the last three years and current year (as on 31.01.2018), are given in Annexure-1 and Annexure-II respectively.

(b) There is no decline in mobile connections of BSNL in Andhra Pradesh service area. However, the landline connections have witnessed a decline over the last three years. The reasons behind decline of BSNL landline connections are as under:

-  General  decline  in  the  landline  telephone  connections  due  to  tendency  to shift  to  mobile  services  because  of  its  convenience  with  regard  to  its  utility and availability.
-  Surrender of landline connections due to non-payment of telephone bills.
-  Non availability of landline service on account of frequent interruption due to cable  damage  by  various  agencies  working  for  road  widening  works,  water and drainage activities etc.

(c) Various steps have been taken by BSNL  to arrest decline of landline connections. These include rehabilitation of external plant and retrieval of good cable pairs,  connecting  all  telephone  exchanges  on  reliable  digital  media,  patrolling  of important cable routes to prevent cable theft etc.

BSNL has also launched various schemes to increase landline connections. These include :

-  Unlimited free night calling from landline to any network between 22:30 hrs to 06:00 hrs for  BSNL landline customers.
-  BSNL has introduced new landline 'Plan LL-299' with Fixed Monthly Charges (FMC) Rs.299. In this tariff plan 250 free calls are allowed to any network within India.
-  BSNL  has  introduced  Replacement  of  Instrument  free  of  cost  for  existing customers, who have paid last six months bill for Landline/Combo connection with total amount of Rs.3600/- or above and having Landline for last three years
-  BSNL  has  introduced  Virtual  landline  Connection  under  plan  'ÄSEEM'      in which  customers  can  get  a  Virtual  Landline  number  and  get  diverted  all    the calls received on that number to a mobile number of his/her choice.

Operator wise number of mobile telephone connections  in Andhra Pradesh service area during the last three years and current year as on 31.01.2018 are as follows:

| Sr.No.   | Telecom service provider   |   31.03.2015 |   31.03.2016 |   31.03.2017 |   31.01.2018 |
|----------|----------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1        | Bharti Airtel              |     21842966 |     23592784 |     25867782 |     27243637 |
| 2        | IDEA                       |     14101423 |     15390077 |     17580618 |     16732811 |
| 3        | Vodafone                   |      6978118 |      7032368 |      6946782 |      6540448 |
| 4        | Aircel                     |      2608951 |      2725320 |      2614825 |      2315578 |
| 5        | Telenor                    |      5459948 |      5685052 |      5301805 |      4075080 |
| 6        | Reliance                   |      5119638 |      5611249 |      3602108 |       282891 |
| 7        | TATA                       |      6233932 |      4962611 |      3734568 |      2956652 |
| 8        | Rel Jio                    |            0 |            0 |      9371987 |     13952799 |
| 9        | BSNL                       |      9603423 |      9652963 |      9922220 |     10095444 |
|          | Total                      |     71948399 |     74652424 |     84942695 |     84195340 |

Operator wise number  of landline telephone connections in Andhra Pradesh  service  area  during  the  last  three  years  and  current  year  as  on 31.01.2018 are as follows:

| Sr.No.   | Telecom service provider   |   31.03.2015 |   31.03.2016 |   31.03.2017 |   31.01.2018 |
|----------|----------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1        | Bharti Airtel              |       119680 |       145755 |       161781 |       166960 |
| 2        | Reliance                   |        80426 |        75937 |        75535 |        72859 |
| 3        | TATA                       |       162779 |       164318 |       172162 |       172249 |
| 4        | Vodafone                   |         9118 |         9240 |        12150 |        26650 |
| 5        | Aircel                     |            0 |            0 |            0 |         5312 |
| 6        | BSNL                       |      1496743 |      1340655 |      1216162 |      1058998 |
|          | Total                      |      1868746 |      1735905 |      1637790 |      1503028 |

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