Lok Sabha Question No. 387 (STARRED), answered on 2017-03-29
Subject: Signal Blindspots in Urban Areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: MEENAKASHI LEKHI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.387 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 TH   MARCH, 2017

## SIGNAL BLINDSPOTS IN URBAN AREAS

- *387. SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  are  signal  blindspots  in  urban  areas  where  no  service  provider  is separately  able  to  provide  telecom  signals  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons therefor;
- (b) whether the Government has received complaints pertaining to non-receipt of signals during the last three years and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise; and
- (c) the action taken/being 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) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Contd…….2/-

## STATEMENT  TO  BE  LAID  ON  THE  TABLE  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  IN  RESPECT  OF PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.387 FOR  29 TH  MARCH, 2017 REGARDING 'SIGNAL BLINDSPOTS IN URBAN AREAS '.

(a) Madam, the signal blindspots in wireless network is a normal phenomenon which may happen due to various reasons including poor radio coverage, loading of available spectrum, shutdown/  sealing  of  existing  sites,  denial  of  permission  for  installation  of  new  sites, prolonged power failures, cable cut etc. No data is maintained by the Government pertaining to signal blindspots. Further, radio jammers may also result into localized signal blindspots.

(b) Licence Service Area (LSA) wise detail of complaints related to Poor Mobile Signals received during last 3 calendar years viz. 2014, 2015 & 2016 is enclosed as Annexure .

(c) The  augmentation  of  wireless  networks  by  adding  new  Base  Transceiver  Stations (BTSs) by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) is a regular exercise to improve the quality/ coverage  of  their  network.  However,  looking  into  the  large  number  of  complaints,  the Government has asked the TSPs to improve the coverage of signal to the extent feasible by installing more BTSs. The TSPs have reported that they have already installed 1,09,000 BTS across  the  country  from  July  2015  to  May  2016  and  2,16,000  additional  BTSs  from  June 2016 to February 2017. The TSPs have also informed that about 4,97,000 BTSs have been optimized for improvement in Network Performance since July 2015.

Contd…3/-

## Annexure

Licence Service Area (LSA) wise detail of complaints related to Poor Mobile

## Signals received in the calendar year 2014, 2015 & 2016

| Sl. No.   | Licensed Service Area   |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 |
|-----------|-------------------------|--------|--------|--------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh          |    124 |    133 |    221 |
| 2         | Assam                   |     45 |     58 |    121 |
| 3         | Bihar                   |    278 |    275 |    354 |
| 4         | Delhi                   |    689 |   1124 |   1002 |
| 5         | Gujarat                 |    131 |    171 |    236 |
| 6         | Haryana                 |    137 |    186 |    205 |
| 7         | Himachal Pradesh        |     16 |     16 |     31 |
| 8         | Jammu& Kashmir          |     35 |     29 |     70 |
| 9         | Karnataka               |    173 |    186 |    241 |
| 10        | Kerala                  |     68 |     27 |     37 |
| 11        | Kolkata                 |     33 |     72 |     70 |
| 12        | Madhya Pradesh          |    126 |    158 |    178 |
| 13        | Maharashtra             |    466 |    557 |    582 |
| 14        | Mumbai                  |    130 |    157 |    159 |
| 15        | North East              |     19 |     18 |     37 |
| 16        | Odisha                  |     61 |    129 |    100 |
| 17        | Punjab                  |    155 |    130 |    286 |
| 18        | Rajasthan               |    149 |    183 |    197 |
| 19        | Tamilnadu               |    224 |    284 |    236 |
| 20        | Uttar Pradesh - East    |    334 |    374 |    454 |
| 21        | Uttar Pradesh-West      |     55 |     43 |    104 |
| 22        | West Bengal             |    153 |    241 |    178 |
|           | Total                   |   3601 |   4551 |   5099 |

************