Lok Sabha Question No. 2251 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-15
Subject: Mobile Towers
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: ABHISHEK SINGH, PRATAPRAO GANPATRAO JADHAV, BAHADUR SINGH KOLI, CHANDRAKANT BHAURAO KHAIRE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2251 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15 TH  MARCH, 2017

## MOBILE TOWERS

2251.  SHRI ABHISHEK SINGH: SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV: SHRI BAHADUR SINGH KOLI: SHRI CHANDRAKANT KHAIRE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of mobile towers installed by BSNL and MTNL in the country, State/UTwise  along  with  the  number  of  the  said  towers  which  are  yet  to  be  made  operational, State/UT-wise along with the time by which the said towers are to be made functional;
- (b) whether  these  towers  are  adequate  to  offer  smooth  and  uninterrupted  telecom services  offered  by  the  said  companies,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the  reasons therefor;
- (c) the other steps taken by the Government to ensure uninterrupted and smooth mobile services in view of rapidly increasing country's telecom subscriber base;
- (d) whether the Government has received any complaint pertaining to such towers posing threat to public amenities, if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  laid  down  any  norms  regarding  requisite  number  of mobile towers for prescribed subscriber base, and if so, the details thereof along with the number of companies violating the said norms and the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  and  Mahanagar  Telephone  Nigam  Limited (MTNL) State/UT-wise details of mobile towers is at Annexure-I.
- (b)&(c) So  far  BSNL  is  concerned,  it  has  wide  spread  network  covering  the  entire country. BSNL has covered District Headquarters as well as 434220 villages. Details is as per Annexure-II. The provision of mobile network being capital intensive, it can be done only in  phased  manner  on  techno  commercial  viability/feasibility.  For  further  improvement  of mobile services, BSNL keeps on expanding its network periodically. Presently Phase VII+ is under roll out and another tender of Phase VIII-4 is under evaluation.

So  far  MTNL  is concerned, existing towers are inadequate for smooth  and uninterrupted telecom services.  MTNL has taken following steps to improve its 2G and 3G mobile network capabilities and provide better quality of service to its customers:

- (i) Expansion of GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) / 3G RF network in  Delhi: For  expansion  of mobile  network,  purchase  order for 1080 number of 3G sites for higher data handling capacity has been placed.
- (ii) 3G  Network  Up-Gradation  in  Mumbai: To  upgrade  the  existing  3G  network  in Mumbai to  make  it  a  high  speed  network  of  'HSPA+  (High  Speed  Packet  Access) version',  MTNL  has  placed  purchase  order.  After  the  proposed  up-gradation,  the customers  will  get  a  download  speed  of  21.1  Mbps  &  upload  speed  of  5.76  Mbps which will be 6 times faster than present download speed and 10 times faster than present upload speed.
- (iii) Microwave  Backhaul  Connectivity: Purchase  order  for  adding  1554  Microwave Hops  in  Delhi  and  470  in  Mumbai  has  been  placed  to  augment  and  improve  the mobile network.
- (d) In case of EMF(Electro Magnetic Field) emissions related complaints, the same are handled  by  the  concerned  TERM(Telecom  Enforcement,  Resource  &  Monitoring)Cell  in whose jurisdiction the case pertains.  In case of non-compliance of the prescribed guidelines of  DoT(Department  of  Telecommunications)  in  respect  to  EMF  emissions,  the  financial penalty  of  Rs.Ten  lakhs  per  BTS(Base  Transceiver  Station)    is  imposed  on  all  the TSPs(Telecom Service Providers) present on the site alongwith shut-down of the site if the non-compliance persists for a month.

In case of complaints related to non-observance of applicable by-laws and regulations of  local  bodies  such  as  State  Governments,  Municipal  Corporations,  Gram  Panchayats  or any other local authority, the same is handled by concerned authorities.

- (e)        No  norms  have  been  prescribed  for  setting  up  of  mobile  tower  for  a  prescribed subscriber base.   BTS  are established at mobile towers by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) at suitable locations, as per their Radio Frequency (RF) network planning for proper coverage of the area and as per their service requirement to fulfil the license conditions.

Contd…3/-

## Annexure-I

| S.N.   | Name of the Circle   | No. of places where mobile towers have been erected as on 31.12.2016   | Number of places where mobile towers yet to be made functional as on 31.12.2016.   |
|--------|----------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| A      | BSNL:                |                                                                        |                                                                                    |
| 1      | Andman & Nicobar     | 152                                                                    | 0                                                                                  |
| 2      | Andhra Pradesh       | 5741                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
| 3      | Assam                | 1341                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
| 4      | Bihar                | 1903                                                                   | 8                                                                                  |
| 5      | Chhattisgarh         | 1642                                                                   | 127                                                                                |
| 6      | Gujrat               | 4578                                                                   | 19                                                                                 |
| 7      | Himachal Pradesh     | 957                                                                    | 14                                                                                 |
| 8      | Haryana              | 1557                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
| 9      | J&K                  | 1034                                                                   | 24                                                                                 |
| 10     | Jharkhand            | 1400                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
| 11     | Kerla                | 4063                                                                   | 41                                                                                 |
| 12     | Karnataka            | 4049                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
| 13     | Maharashtra          | 5880                                                                   | 81                                                                                 |
| 14     | Madhya Pradesh       | 4558                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
| 15     | North East-I         | 625                                                                    | 12                                                                                 |
| 16     | North East-II        | 676                                                                    | 23                                                                                 |
| 17     | Odisha               | 2400                                                                   | 123                                                                                |
| 18     | Punjab               | 2319                                                                   | 15                                                                                 |
| 19     | Rajasthan            | 3942                                                                   | 182                                                                                |
| 20     | Tamilnadu            | 4824                                                                   | 13                                                                                 |
| 21     | UP East              | 4782                                                                   | 80                                                                                 |
| 22     | UP West              | 2317                                                                   | 30                                                                                 |
| 23     | Uttranchal           | 1033                                                                   | 40                                                                                 |
| 24     | West Bengal          | 2258                                                                   | 72                                                                                 |
| 25     | Kolkatta TD          | 869                                                                    | 5                                                                                  |
| 26     | Channai TD           | 1515                                                                   | 0                                                                                  |
|        | Total                | 66415                                                                  | 909                                                                                |
| B      | MTNL:                |                                                                        |                                                                                    |
| 1      | Delhi                | 1853                                                                   | Nil                                                                                |
| 2      | Mumbai               | 1670                                                                   | Nil                                                                                |
|        | Total                | 3523                                                                   | Nil                                                                                |

Contd…4/-

No. of villages covered by BSNL's Cellular Mobile Services as on 31-01-2017

| Sl. No.   | Circle              |   No of Villages covered with cellular services as on 31-01-2017 |
|-----------|---------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Haryana             |                                                             4477 |
| 2         | Himachal Pradesh    |                                                            17525 |
| 3         | Jammu &Kashmir      |                                                             5303 |
| 4         | Punjab              |                                                            11321 |
| 5         | Rajasthan           |                                                            26363 |
| 6         | Uttarakhand         |                                                            13507 |
| 7         | Uttar Pradesh(East) |                                                            71852 |
| 8         | Uttar Pradesh(West) |                                                            14315 |
| 9         | Andaman& Nicobar    |                                                              323 |
| 10        | Assam               |                                                            20291 |
| 11        | Bihar               |                                                            28045 |
| 12        | Kolkata (TD)        |                                                              437 |
| 13        | Jharkhand           |                                                            22398 |
| 14        | North East I        |                                                             2799 |
| 15        | North East II       |                                                             5022 |
| 16        | Odisha              |                                                            27897 |
| 17        | West Bengal         |                                                            25516 |
| 18        | Chhattisgarh        |                                                            12306 |
| 19        | Gujarat             |                                                            13238 |
| 20        | Maharashtra         |                                                            20975 |
| 21        | Madhya Pradesh      |                                                            30470 |
| 22        | Andhra Pradesh      |                                                            22633 |
| 23        | Chennai (TD)        |                                                             1515 |
| 24        | Kerala              |                                                             1489 |
| 25        | Karnataka           |                                                            22041 |
| 26        | Tamilnadu           |                                                            12162 |
|           | Total               |                                                           434220 |

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