Lok Sabha Question No. 5184 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-04-05
Subject: Service Offered by BSNL and MTNL
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: ANANDRAO  ADSUL, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, BHEEMRAO BASWANTHRAO PATIL, GOPAL CHINAYYA SHETTY, RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE, DHARMENDRA YADAV, J.C. DIVAKAR REDDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5184 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5 TH   APRIL, 2017

## SERVICE OFFERED BY BSNL AND MTNL

## 5184. SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

SHRI BHEEMRAO B. PATIL:

SHRI GOPAL SHETTY:

SHRI RAHUL SHEWALE:

SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

SHRI J.C. DIVAKAR REDDY:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the mobile service quality and infrastructure of BSNL and MTNL in comparison to their private Telecom Service Providers (TSPs);
- (b) whether  BSNL  and  MTNL  have  failed  to  attract  customers  as  compared  to  their private  TSPs particularly  in  the  urban  areas  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to restructure/revamp/merge the aforementioned Telecom PSUs to make them competitive and profitable and if so, the details thereof and the action taken/being taken by the Government in this regard along with the time by which the said proposal is likely to be implemented; and
- (d) whether three lakh employees of BSNL and MTNL reportedly lack required skills and if so, the details and the financial implications thereof and the steps 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) Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  monitors  the  performance  of  service providers,  including  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  and  Mahanagar  Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) against the benchmarks for various quality of service parameters laid down by TRAI in the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations issued from time to time through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs) submitted by service providers.

As per TRAI, Performance Monitoring Report(PMR):

- i) for the quarter ending December 2016, for 2G services, M/s MTNL is meeting all  the  parameters  except  the  parameter  %age  requests  for  Termination  / Closure of service complied within 7 days (benchmark 100% within 7 days). As regards M/s BSNL, the service provider is meeting the benchmarks for all the parameters, except for the parameters, Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop (benchmark < 3%)   in West Bengal Service area only. Whereas M/s  Aircel  is  not  meeting  the  various  parameters  in  27  license  areas,  M/s Reliance Communications in GSM Services in 25 Service areas and M/s Airtel in 15 Service areas.

- ii) for the quarter ending December 2016, for 3G services, M/s MTNL is meeting the benchmark for all the parameters except the parameter Point of Interconnection  (POI) congestion  (benchmark  <0.5%).  As  regards M/s  BSNL, the service provider is meeting the benchmarks for all the parameters, except for  the  parameters,  Worst  affected  cells  having  more  than  3%  TCH  (Traffic Channels) drop (benchmark < 3%)   in West Bengal Service area and Worst Affected  Node  B's  due  to  downtime(%age)  (benchmark  <  2%)  in  Kolkata service  area.  Whereas  M/s  Aircel  is  not  meeting  the  benchmark  for  various parameters in 14 license areas.

As  per  TRAI,  the  infrastructure  regarding    number  of  Base  Transceiver  Stations (BTSs)  (CDMA,2G)  and  Node  Bs(3G)  of  BSNL  and  MTNL  in  comparison  to  the  private Telecom Service Providers(TSPs) is attached as Annexure-I.

(b) As  per  TRAI  the  number  of  total  subscribers  and  urban  subscribers  of  BSNL  and MTNL in comparison to the private Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for the years 2015 and 2016 are at Annexure-II.

- (c) At present, there is no proposal for merger of BSNL and MTNL.

(d) It  is  reported  by  BSNL  and  MTNL  that  the  employees  have  the  skills  required  to maintain the existing core network of landline/mobile services.  Regular training is also given to employees from time to time in different areas.

Contd….3/-

## Annexure-I

## Total number of BTSs (2G, 3G and CDMA) as on 31 Dec 2015 and 31 Dec 2016

| CDMA BTSs        | CDMA BTSs      | CDMA BTSs      |
|------------------|----------------|----------------|
| Service provider | As on Dec-2016 | As on Dec-2015 |
| 11533            | 12978          | Tata           |
| 8216             | 8214           | Sistema        |
| 9046             | 11303          | MTNL/BSNL      |
| -                | 20645          | RCL/RTL        |
| -                | 13             | Quadrant       |

| 2G BTSs          | 2G BTSs        | 2G BTSs        |
|------------------|----------------|----------------|
| Service provider | As on Dec-2016 | As on Dec-2015 |
| Bharti           | 156129         | 148181         |
| Idea             | 132305         | 122215         |
| Vodafone         | 140025         | 133248         |
| RCL/RTL          | 37273          | 37188          |
| Aircel           | 50327          | 48831          |
| MTNL/BSNL        | 84444          | 81139          |
| Tata             | 43136          | 42745          |
| Telenor          | 24949          | 24112          |
| Quadrant         | 2410           | 2376           |
| Videocon         | -              | 5070           |

| 3G BTSs (Node B)   | 3G BTSs (Node B)   | 3G BTSs (Node B)   |
|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| Service provider   | As on Dec-2016     | As on Dec-2015     |
| Bharti             | 60865              | 114776             |
| Idea               | 62751              | 44901              |
|                    | 66960 40298        | Vodafone           |
|                    | 12082 10516        | RCL/RTL            |
| Tata               | 13854 12471        |                    |
| Aircel             | 17238              | 14928              |
| MTNL/BSNL          | 38020              | 30027              |

Contd…4/-

Annexure-II

Total and Urban Wireless Subscribers as on 31.12.2015

| Sr. No.   | Companies     |   No. of Subscribers | No. of urban Subscribers   | %of Urban Subscribers   |
|-----------|---------------|----------------------|----------------------------|-------------------------|
| 1         | Bharti        |            243289404 | 125,794,882                | 51.71%                  |
| 2         | Vodafone      |            193600085 | 90,864,517                 | 46.93%                  |
| 3         | Idea          |            171912608 | 77,460,615                 | 45.06%                  |
| 4         | Reliance      |            100890431 | 76,240,654                 | 75.57%                  |
| 5         | BSNL          |             82507640 | 54,973,007                 | 66.63%                  |
| 6         | Aircel        |             85632249 | 56,255,326                 | 65.69%                  |
| 7         | Tata          |             60727856 | 45,089,017                 | 74.25%                  |
| 8         | Telenor       |             50702396 | 35,030,290                 | 69.09%                  |
| 9         | Sistema Shyam |              8006814 | 6,280,836                  | 78.44%                  |
| 10        | Videocon      |              6958178 | 5,091,754                  | 73.18%                  |
| 11        | MTNL          |              3614439 | 3,614,439                  | 100.00%                 |
| 13        | Quadrant      |              3047100 | 2,971,578                  | 97.52%                  |
|           | Total         |           1010889200 | 579,666,915                | 57.34%                  |

Total and Urban Wireless Subscribers as on 31.12.2016

| Sr. No.   | Companies     |   No. of Subscribers | Urban Subscribers   | %age Urban Subscribers   |
|-----------|---------------|----------------------|---------------------|--------------------------|
| 1         | Bharti        |            265852605 | 135,277,788         | 50.88%                   |
| 2         | Vodafone      |            204686930 | 94,742,247          | 46.29%                   |
| 3         | Idea          |            190517876 | 86,162,936          | 45.23%                   |
| 4         | Reliance      |             86544929 | 65,960,195          | 76.21%                   |
| 5         | R JIO         |             72157644 | 68,033,732          | 94.28%                   |
| 6         | BSNL          |             96787880 | 65,159,641          | 67.32%                   |
| 7         | Aircel        |             90875553 | 59,198,142          | 65.14%                   |
| 8         | Tata          |             52977786 | 39,026,401          | 73.67%                   |
| 9         | Telenor       |             54469499 | 37,917,382          | 69.61%                   |
| 10        | Sistema Shyam |              5877613 | 4,608,522           | 78.41%                   |
| 11        | MTNL          |              3625895 | 3,577,249           | 98.66%                   |
| 12        | Quadrant      |              2999158 | 2,931,721           | 97.75%                   |
|           | Total         |           1127373368 | 662,595,956         | 58.77%                   |

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