Lok Sabha Question No. 6159 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-04
Subject: Mobile Connections
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: NISHIKANT  DUBEY, RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6159 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  APRIL, 2018

## MOBILE CONNECTIONS

6159.   SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY: SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of mobile telephone connections in the country during each of the last two years, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  mobile  communication  penetration  in  rural, remote and backward areas, specially Jharkhand;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to make mobile phones affordable in rural areas by bringing down the cost and tarrif; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Service Area wise mobile telephone connections in the country during the last two years and the current year (as on 31.01.2018) are given at Annexure.
- (b) USOF is implementing projects to provide mobile connectivity in remote,  rural and uncovered areas. A project  to  provide  mobile  service  in  LWE  (Left  Wing  Extremism)  affected  areas  of  Jharkhand  is  being implemented. Under Phase-I of this  project  816  towers  have  been  set  up  and  are  radiating.    Under  Phase-II  a proposal to provide mobile services at 1054 additional locations, identified by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has been taken up for consideration.

In addition, under the flagship BharatNet programme, the Government  plans to create network infrastructure for providing Broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) (approx. 2,50,000) in the country, including Jharkhand.  As on 31-03-2018, a total of 1536 GPs out of a total of 4423 GPs have been made service ready in Jharkhand.

- (c) & (d) The tariff for  mobile telephony services is under forbearance except for National roaming and Rural  Fixed  Line  services.  The  service  providers  have  the  flexibility  to  decide  various  tariff  components  for different  service  areas  of  their  operation.  Tariffs  are  offered  by  service  providers  taking  into  account  several factors including input costs, level of competition and other commercial considerations. TSPs have flexibility to design their products to suit consumer demand. TSPs have plans on offer which provide subscribers a wide choice of telecom products and services as per their need. The average outgo for voice and data services in India have shown continuous downward trend, particularly in the recent past. The details are shown in the table below.

## Average outgo for voice and data

| Quarter ending   |   Average outgo per minute for voice (Rs.) |   Average outgo per GB data (Rs.) |
|------------------|--------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
| June 2016        |                                       0.49 |                               205 |
| September 2016   |                                       0.48 |                               184 |
| December 2016    |                                       0.44 |                               164 |
| March 2017       |                                       0.31 |                                19 |
| June 2017        |                                       0.27 |                                17 |
| September 2017   |                                       0.23 |                                21 |
| December 2017    |                                       0.19 |                                19 |

Source: TRAI

Service Area wise number of mobile connections (in Million)

| S.No.   | Service Area         |   31.03.2016 |   31.03.2017 |   31.01.2018 |
|---------|----------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh       |        74.65 |        84.94 |        84.19 |
| 2       | Assam                |        18.56 |        21.84 |        22.26 |
| 3       | Bihar*               |        74.51 |        84.61 |        83.83 |
| 4       | Gujarat              |        62.27 |        71.84 |        71.04 |
| 5       | Haryana              |        23.26 |        25.05 |        25.71 |
| 6       | Himachal Pradesh     |         8.89 |        10.43 |         9.72 |
| 7       | Jammu &Kashmir       |         9.82 |        11.91 |        12.56 |
| 8       | Karnataka            |        61.34 |        69.14 |        67.28 |
| 9       | Kerala               |        34.31 |        39.16 |        41.14 |
| 10      | Madhya Pradesh       |        65.67 |        69.58 |        69.24 |
| 11      | Maharashtra          |        84.1  |        93.9  |        93.36 |
| 12      | North East           |        11.07 |        12.57 |        12.84 |
| 13      | Odisha               |        29.06 |        34.29 |        33.04 |
| 14      | Punjab               |        31.75 |        35.97 |        37.47 |
| 15      | Rajasthan            |        60.09 |        67.36 |        64.39 |
| 16      | Tamil Nadu           |        81.35 |        89.26 |        86.95 |
| 17      | Uttar Pradesh (East) |        92.24 |       104.56 |       100.85 |
| 18      | Uttar Pradesh (West) |        57.6  |        66.68 |        62.41 |
| 19      | West Bengal          |        49.5  |        58.25 |        56.35 |
| 20      | Kolkata              |        25.03 |        29.32 |        27.08 |
| 21      | Delhi                |        47.24 |        53.35 |        53.58 |
| 22      | Mumbai               |        31.8  |        36.58 |        36.78 |
|         | All- India           |      1034.11 |      1170.59 |      1152.09 |

*Bihar service area includes the state of Bihar and Jharkhand.

*****

## ANNEXURE