Lok Sabha Question No. 3250 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-22
Subject: Communication Network in Kerala
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: M. I. SHANAVAS

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3250 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22 ND   MARCH, 2017

## COMMUNICATION NETWORK IN KERALA

3250. SHRI M.I. SHANAVAS:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any data with regard to percentage of communication network in States including Kerala;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise; and
- (c) the steps being taken by the Ministry to increase communication network in remotest areas including Kerala?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) A  communication  network  basically  includes  telephone  penetration  (wireless and  wireline)  in  rural  and  urban  areas  of  the  country.    The  Service  Area  wise  number  of connections,  teledensity  (percentage  of  population  covered)  and  the  percentage  share  of Service Area in total connections as on  31 st December, 2016 are given  at the Annexure.
- (c) Various  Schemes  being  implemented/planned  with  financial  support  from  Universal Service  Obligation  Fund  (USOF)  to  increase  the  spread  of  communication  network  in inaccessible rural and remote areas in the country including Kerala, are as under :
- (i) BharatNet  is  planned  to  create  network  infrastructure  for  providing  Broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) (approx. 2,50,000) in the country. The project  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner,  with  phase-I  to  connect 1,00,000  GPs    being  implemented  currently.  Remaining  GPs  are  targeted  to  be covered in phase-II, to be completed by December, 2018.
- (ii) 2199  mobile  towers  are  being  set  up  in  Left  Wing  Extremism  (LWE)  affected States with a total estimated cost of Rs.3567.58 crore. As on date, 2186 sites are radiating.
- (iii) On 10.09.2014, the Government approved a proposal to implement a Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER). The  Project  envisages  to  provide  mobile  coverage  to  8621  identified  uncovered villages  by  installation  of  about  6673  mobile  towers,  installation  of  321  mobile tower sites along National Highways and strengthening of transmission network in the NER.  The estimated cost of implementation is Rs. 5336.18 crore, to be funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

- (iv) USOF schemes for Creation of Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) Infrastructure in NorthEast  are  being  implemented to  provide  sufficient  back-haul  capacity  to  integrate the voice and data traffic from the access network in the rural areas to their core network and OFC network augmentation between the Block HQ and Districts HQ.
- (v) On  14.12.2016,  the  Government  approved  the  proposal  for  providing  mobile services  in  172  uncovered  villages  and  entire  129  Km  of  National  Highway  (NH 223) in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The estimated cost of implementation is Rs. 262.91 Crore.
- (vi) On 14.12.2016, the Government approved the proposal for installation of 10 new BTSs  to  improve  the  Quality  of  Service  (QoS)  in  Lakshadweep  Islands.  The estimated cost of project is Rs. 10.1 Crore and to be funded by USOF.
- (vii) On 21.09.2016, the Government approved a proposal for providing Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) connectivity from mainland India (Chennai) to Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The estimated cost for CAPEX is Rs. 880.03 Crore and to be funded by USOF. The OPEX is Rs. 44.47 Crore per annum and to be funded by Andaman & Nicobar Islands and UT Administration/Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Contd…..3/-

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## ANNEXURE

Service area-wise connections ( Rural, Urban, Total, Wireline and Wireless) Tele-density in % age and % age share of Service area in total telephone connections at the end of December 2016

| Sr. No. Service         | No. of connections ( in million)   | No. of connections ( in million)   | No. of connections ( in million)   | No. of connections ( in million)   | No. of connections ( in million)   |                         |                                     |
|-------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| area                    | Rural                              | Urban                              | Total connections                  | Wireline                           | Wireless                           | Tele- density (in %age) | Share in total connection (in %age) |
| 1 Andhra Pradesh        | 34.62                              | 48.67                              | 83.29                              | 1.63                               | 81.66                              | 93.67                   | 7.23%                               |
| 2 Assam                 | 12.88                              | 8.22                               | 21.10                              | 0.16                               | 20.94                              | 64.43                   | 1.83%                               |
| 3 Bihar                 | 46.20                              | 36.42                              | 82.63                              | 0.32                               | 82.31                              | 59.50                   | 7.17%                               |
| 4 Gujarat               | 25.79                              | 43.94                              | 69.73                              | 1.35                               | 68.38                              | 108.63                  | 6.05%                               |
| 5 Haryana               | 10.88                              | 13.41                              | 24.29                              | 0.35                               | 23.94                              | 87.37                   | 2.11%                               |
| 6 Himachal Pradesh      | 6.29                               | 3.78                               | 10.07                              | 0.15                               | 9.91                               | 140.94                  | 0.87%                               |
| 7 Jammu & Kashmir       | 5.92                               | 5.48                               | 11.41                              | 0.13                               | 11.27                              | 91.09                   | 0.99%                               |
| 8 Karnataka             | 21.09                              | 48.26                              | 69.36                              | 2.22                               | 67.13                              | 110.40                  | 6.02%                               |
| 9 Kerala                | 17.30                              | 22.73                              | 40.02                              | 2.12                               | 37.91                              | 111.42                  | 3.47%                               |
| 10 Madhya Pradesh       | 31.10                              | 36.45                              | 67.55                              | 1.04                               | 66.51                              | 64.38                   | 5.86%                               |
| 11 Maharashtra          | 41.03                              | 51.62                              | 92.65                              | 1.88                               | 90.77                              | 92.98                   | 8.04%                               |
| 12 North East           | 6.17                               | 6.34                               | 12.50                              | 0.12                               | 12.38                              | 88.88                   | 1.09%                               |
| 13 Odisha               | 18.55                              | 14.53                              | 33.08                              | 0.29                               | 32.79                              | 77.39                   | 2.87%                               |
| 14 Punjab               | 12.75                              | 24.65                              | 37.40                              | 1.02                               | 36.38                              | 119.97                  | 3.25%                               |
| 15 Rajasthan            | 32.56                              | 33.10                              | 65.67                              | 0.75                               | 64.91                              | 89.03                   | 5.70%                               |
| 16 Tamil Nadu           | 24.76                              | 64.31                              | 89.08                              | 2.54                               | 86.54                              | 124.76                  | 7.73%                               |
| 17 Uttar Pradesh (East) | 50.71                              | 51.40                              | 102.10                             | 0.50                               | 101.61                             |                         | 8.86%                               |
| 18 Uttar Pradesh (West) | 27.93                              | 35.68                              | 63.61                              | 0.40                               | 63.21                              | 71.54                   | 5.52%                               |
| 19 West Bengal          | 37.37                              | 18.56                              | 55.93                              | 0.33                               | 55.59                              | 70.40                   | 4.85%                               |
| 20 Kolkata              | 1.94                               | 27.06                              | 29.01                              | 0.86                               | 28.14                              | 181.53                  | 2.52%                               |
| 21 Delhi                | 2.33                               | 51.77                              | 54.09                              | 3.21                               | 50.88                              | 248.19                  | 4.69%                               |
| 22 Mumbai               | 1.05                               | 36.61                              | 37.66                              | 3.03                               | 34.63                              | 159.29                  | 3.27%                               |
| All- India              | 469.23                             | 682.98                             | 1152.21                            | 24.40                              | 1127.81                            | 89.94                   | 100.00%                             |

Source: DoT compiled data