Lok Sabha Question No. 1962 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-07
Subject: Mobile Connectivity in Rural Areas of Maharashtra
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: SANJAY HARIBHAU JADHAV, CHANDRAKANT BHAURAO KHAIRE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1962

TO BE ANSWERED ON 7 th  MARCH, 2018

## MOBILE CONNECTIVITY IN RURAL AREAS OF MAHARASHTRA

- †1962. SHRI SANJAY HARIBHAU JADHAV: SHRI CHANDRAKANT KHAIRE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a large number of villages and some urban areas in Maharashtra are yet to be connected with mobile telephones and internet;
- (b) if so, the details of such villages and urban areas;
- (c) the details of mobile towers and telephone exchanges working in the States, circle-wise;
- (d) the  details  of  mobile  towers  and  telephone  exchanges  likely  to  be  installed  in  these States; and
- (e) the action taken by Government to provide mobile/telephone connectivity to the left out villages/areas in the States?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) There  are  no  urban  areas  in  Maharashtra  which  are  yet  to  be  connected  by mobile and internet connectivity however, there are 4,710 villages in Maharashtra State which are yet to be connected with mobile connectivity.
- (c) The details of mobile towers and telephone exchanges working in the License Service Areas (LSAs) are at Annexure-I.
- (d) The decision for installation of mobile towers and telephone exchanges by any Telecom Service  Provider  (TSP)  is  an  ongoing  process  and  is  dependent  on  various  factors  like commercial viability, subscriber concentration, technology to be adopted etc.
- (e) At  present,  the  Department  has  the  following  programmes  for  provision  of  telecom services in left out villages/areas of the country:
- (i)  Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER): On  10.09.2014,  the  Government  approved  a  proposal  to  implement  a  Comprehensive Telecom  Development  Plan  for  the  North-Eastern  Region  (NER)  to  provide  mobile coverage to 8621 identified uncovered villages by installing 6673 mobile towers and 321 mobile towers along with National Highways.
- ( ii)  Mobile  Communication  Services  in  Left  Wing  Extremism  (LWE)  affected  areas: Department has received a list of 4,072 mobile locations from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in LWE affected areas. Telecom Commission, in its meeting held on 21.12.2017, has  recommended  the  proposal  for  installing  4072  mobile  towers,  for  which  Cabinet approval is being sought.
- (iii) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep  Islands: Comprehensive  Telecom  Development  Plan  to  provide  mobile coverage  in  172  uncovered  villages  and  along  National  Highways  and  to  augment  the Satellite Bandwidth for Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
- (iv)  BharatNet: BharatNet  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  for  providing broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country.

## ANNEXURE-I

| S.No   | Name of License Service Area (LSA)   |   No. of Towers of all Telecom Service Providers |   No of BSNL/MTNL Telephone Exchanges |
|--------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh                       |                                            36213 |                                  3083 |
| 2      | Assam                                |                                            10386 |                                   564 |
| 3      | Bihar                                |                                            32242 |                                  1672 |
| 4      | Delhi                                |                                            21375 |                                   348 |
| 5      | Gujarat                              |                                            26717 |                                  2381 |
| 6      | Himachal Pradesh                     |                                             4982 |                                   941 |
| 7      | Haryana                              |                                            10270 |                                  1017 |
| 8      | Jammu & Kashmir                      |                                             8080 |                                   305 |
| 9      | Karnataka                            |                                            28147 |                                  2789 |
| 10     | Kerala                               |                                            16015 |                                  1308 |
| 11     | Maharashtra (including Mumbai LSA)   |                                            51022 |                                  4699 |
| 12     | Madhya Pradesh                       |                                            30937 |                                  3014 |
| 13     | North-East                           |                                             6634 |                                   402 |
| 14     | Odisha                               |                                            15682 |                                  1083 |
| 15     | Punjab                               |                                            18305 |                                  1457 |
| 16     | Rajasthan                            |                                            24725 |                                  2008 |
| 17     | Tamil Nadu                           |                                            38864 |                                  2346 |
| 18     | Uttar Pradesh (East)                 |                                            29654 |                                  2113 |
| 19     | Uttar Pradesh (West)                 |                                            24386 |                                  1392 |
| 20     | West Bengal (including Kolkata LSA)  |                                            28523 |                                  1872 |
|        | Total                                |                                           463159 |                                 34794 |

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