Lok Sabha Question No. 2528 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-01
Subject: Telecom Services in Rural and LWE Areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB, RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE, SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2528 TO BE ANSWERED ON 1 ST  AUGUST, 2018

## TELECOM SERVICES IN RURAL AND LWE AREAS

2528.  SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB: SHRI RAHUL SHEWALE: SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of villages in rural areas and areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country which are yet to connect with mobile telephone and internet services, as on date, State/UTwise;
- (b) the  schemes /  programmes  implemented  by  the  Government  to  ensure  mobile  and  internet services in each village of the country;
- (c) the funds provided by the Government under the said schemes/programmes during each of the last three years and the current year, State-wise;
- (d) whether the Government has assessed the impact of such unavailability of mobile telephone and internet services on its Digital India Programme, if so, the details and the outcome thereof; and
- (e) the other steps taken by the Government in this direction?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The  number  of  villages  in  rural  areas  which  are  yet  to  connect  with  mobile  telephone  and internet services, as on 27 th  July 2018 (based on 2018 survey), are 43,088. State/ Union Territory-wise details are given in Annexure-I. It includes 10 States affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
- (b) The  Government  has  planned  to  cover  all  uncovered  villages  in  a  phased  manner  utilizing Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF). The Government has prioritized to reach remote areas of the  country  such  as  North-Eastern  States,  Islands,  Himalayan  States,  Western  Border  States  and more importantly the Left Wing Extremism affected areas in the first phase.

The details of schemes/ programmes implemented and under-implementation are as under:

(i)   Scheme for LWE affected areas:

In order to provide mobile telephony services in the States affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), Phase-I of the project for providing mobile connectivity at 2355 tower locations as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spread across 10 States as mentioned above in part(a).

It has been implemented through Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) at 2335 locations.

The  Government  has further  approved  Left Wing  Extremism  (LWE)  affected  areas  Phase  II scheme to provide mobile services at 4072 MHA identified locations in 10 States under viability gapfunding  of  Rupees  7330  Crore.  Detailed  Project  Report  (DPR)  for  LWE  Phase  II  scheme  is  being prepared and 4G technology along with 2G will be deployed for providing both voice & data services. Implementation of project will commence after selection of implementing agencies.

## (ii) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North Eastern Region

-  Under this plan, USOF has signed an agreement with BSNL, to install 2817 mobile towers for providing mobile coverage in 4119 uncovered villages of Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of Assam with an estimated cost of Rupees 2258 Crore.
-  Agreement  has  also  been  signed  with  M/s  Bharti  Airtel  Limited  and  M/s  Bharti  Hexacom Limited  to  install  2004  mobile  towers  for  providing  mobile  coverage  in  2128  villages  and National Highways in rest of NER (except Meghalaya) with an estimated cost of Rupees1656 Crore.
-  On 23.05.2018, the Cabinet has approved revised proposal for provision of mobile services on 2G+4G technology for installation of 2173 mobile towers in 2374 uncovered villages and along National Highways in Meghalaya at an estimated cost of Rupees 3911 Crore.
-  Augmentation  of  Fibre  Cable  (OFC)  network  between  District  Headquarters  and  Block Headquarters  has  been  implemented  by  connecting  a  total  of  402  nodes,  including  323  in Assam,  05  in  Meghalaya,  02  in  Mizoram,  37  in  Tripura,  07  in  Arunachal  Pradesh,  10  in Manipur and 18 in Nagaland.
- (iii) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Andaman & Nicobar Islands
-  Satellite bandwidth augmented by BSNL from 260 Mbps to 1.3 Gbps.
-  Provision of 2G & 4G coverage in 172 uncovered villages and 129 km. of National Highway 223 for which tenders have been invited in June 2018.
- (iv) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Lakshadweep Islands :
-  Satellite bandwidth augmented by BSNL from 102 Mbps to 358 Mbps.
-  Augmentation  of  2G  mobile  coverage  with  EDGE  technology  by  installation  of  10  new  BTS towers.
- (v) Bharat-Net project
-  Bharat-net  project  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  for  providing  broadband connectivity  to  about  2.5  lakh  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  in  the  country.  As  on  8 th July  2017, optical fiber to about 1.17 lakh GPs has been laid and about 1.13 lakh GPs declared serviceready. Last mile connectivity is also in progress in different States through various agencies.
- (vi) Public Wi-Fi  hot-spots  at  5000  GPs  set-up  by  CSC  e-Governance  Services  India  Limited,  a Special Purpose Vehicle, under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. BSNL has also envisaged provision of Wi-Fi hot-spots in 25,000 rural telephone exchanges out of which 4519 have been set-up.
- (c) The funds disbursed by USOF against various schemes during the last three years and current year are tabulated in Annexure-II.
- (d) No.
- (e) Steps taken are already covered in (b) above.

Count of villages without mobile services as on 27 July 2018 (based on 2018 survey) in respective States/ Union Territories (UT) is as under:

| Sl. No.   | State/UT Name        | No. of inhabited villages as per census 2011   | No. of inhabited villages without mobile services   |
|-----------|----------------------|------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman & Nicobar    | 396                                            | 165                                                 |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh       | 16158                                          | 2745                                                |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh    | 5258                                           | 2215                                                |
| 4.        | Assam                | 25372                                          | 915                                                 |
| 5.        | Bihar                | 39073                                          | 263                                                 |
| 6.        | Chandigarh           | 5                                              | 0                                                   |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh         | 19567                                          | 3563                                                |
| 8.        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 65                                             | 0                                                   |
| 9.        | Daman & Diu          | 19                                             | 0                                                   |
| 10.       | Delhi                | 103                                            | 0                                                   |
| 11.       | Goa                  | 320                                            | 47                                                  |
| 12.       | Gujarat              | 17843                                          | 1262                                                |
| 13.       | Haryana              | 6642                                           | 8                                                   |
| 14.       | Himachal Pradesh     | 17882                                          | 211                                                 |
| 15.       | Jammu & Kashmir      | 6337                                           | 328                                                 |
| 16.       | Jharkhand            | 29492                                          | 1222                                                |
| 17.       | Karnataka            | 27397                                          | 869                                                 |
| 18.       | Kerala               | 1017                                           | 0                                                   |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep          | 6                                              | 1                                                   |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh       | 51929                                          | 5558                                                |
| 21.       | Maharashtra          | 40959                                          | 6117                                                |
| 22.       | Manipur              | 2515                                           | 877                                                 |
| 23.       | Meghalaya            | 6459                                           | 2691                                                |
| 24.       | Mizoram              | 704                                            | 314                                                 |
| 25.       | Nagaland             | 1400                                           | 328                                                 |
| 26.       | Odisha               | 47677                                          | 9940                                                |
| 27.       | Punjab               | 12168                                          | 4                                                   |
| 28.       | Puducherry           | 90                                             | 0                                                   |
| 29.       | Rajasthan            | 43264                                          | 1402                                                |
| 30.       | Sikkim               | 425                                            | 13                                                  |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu           | 15049                                          | 83                                                  |
| 32.       | Telangana            | 10128                                          | 647                                                 |
| 33.       | Tripura              | 863                                            | 16                                                  |
| 34.       | Uttarakhand          | 15745                                          | 552                                                 |
| 35.       | Uttar Pradesh        | 97813                                          | 295                                                 |
| 36.       | West Bengal          | 37478                                          | 437                                                 |
|           | TOTAL                | 5,97,618                                       | 43,088                                              |

The status of disbursement of subsidy under USOF Schemes is tabulated below:

| Sl. No.   | Activity                                                           | Subsidy Disbursed   | Subsidy Disbursed   | Subsidy Disbursed   | Subsidy Disbursed      |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|------------------------|
|           |                                                                    | 2015-16             | 2016-17             | 2017-18             | 2018-19 As on 30.06.18 |
| 1.        | Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas                                 | 617.05              | 280.68              | 710.90              | 61.63                  |
| 2.        | Bharat-Net (previously NOFN)                                       | 2415.10             | 5600.00             | 6000.00             |                        |
| 3         | OFC (NE -I & II)                                                   | 3.95                | 27.52               |                     |                        |
| 4         | OFC Assam                                                          |                     |                     |                     | 0.77                   |
| 5         | Satellite Augmentation- Andaman & Nicobar Is                       | 8.10                |                     |                     |                        |
| 6         | Satellite Augmentation- Lakshadweep Is                             |                     | 4.65                |                     |                        |
| 7.        | Setting up of 25000 public Wi-Fi hotspots at rural block exchanges | 0                   | 0                   | 187.50              | -                      |
| 8.        | 'Wi-Fi Choupal' at 5,000 Gram Panchayats by CSC                    | 0                   | 35.70               | 68.16               | -                      |

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## Annexure-II

(Rupees in Crore)