Lok Sabha Question No. 2444 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-30
Subject: 4G Penetration and Speed
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: R. GOPALAKRISHNAN, K. MARAGATHAM

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2444 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30 TH  NOVEMBER, 2016

## 4G PENETRATION AND SPEED

2444.  SHRI R. GOPALAKRISHNAN: SHRIMATI K. MARAGATHAM:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the 4G technology has been introduced across the nation including in the rural areas of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  data  published  on  TRAI's  website  showed  4G  speed  on  the network  of  new  telecom  operators  slower  than  speeds  offered  by  other  telecom companies; and
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  response  of  the  telecom  service  providers along with the reaction of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) As reported by various Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), the details of launch of 4G services are as follows:
- (i) M/s  Bharti  Airtel  Limited  has  launched  its  4G  services  in  all  service areas across the country except Assam and Jammu & Kashmir service area  and  is  providing  4G  services  in  1900  census  towns  and  10,000 villages.
- (ii) M/s  Idea  Cellular  Limited  has  launched  its  4G  services  in  11  service areas namely Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, North East, Odisha, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
- (iii) M/s  Reliance  Communications  Limited/  M/s  Reliance  Telecom  Limited has  launched  its  4G  services  in  all  service  areas  across  the  country except Jammu & Kashmir service area and is providing 4G services in 519 District Headquarters and 4350 towns.
- (iv) M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has launched its 4G services in all service areas across the country and is providing 4G services in 18000 cities and towns and over 2 lakh villages.
- (v) M/s Vodafone India Limited has launched its 4G services in 9 service areas  namely  Delhi,  Gujarat,  Haryana,  Karnataka,  Kerala,  Kolkata, Mumbai,  Uttar  Pradesh  (East)  and  West  Bengal  and  is  providing  4G services in 734 towns/ villages.

(c) & (d) TRAI  (Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India)  had  recently  launched TRAI analytics portal www.analytics.trai.gov.in. This portal has three sub-portals viz. TRAI QoS Analytics Portal, TRAI MySpeed Portal and TRAI Drive Test Portal. TRAI had also  launched  a  mobile  App  named  'TRAI  My  Speed'.  This  application  allows customers to measure their data speed experience and sends the results to TRAI. The  application  captures  and  sends  coverage,  data  speed  and  other  network information along with device and location of the tests to the TRAI - 'MySpeed' Portal. The TRAI - 'MySpeed' Portal allows the users to explore the mobile data experience of  consumers across India. The information displayed on the web site is based on crowd  sourced  data  collected  over  a  period  of  time  and  spread  over  geographical area.  The  data  is  dynamic  in  nature  and  varies  from  service  area  to  service  area, location  to  location  and  even  down  to  small  area  zoomed  out  in  the  map  of  India, based on users of the mobile app, the location of the user, the network traffic in the area, the mobile device of the user etc. This dynamic data is displayed separately for 3G services, 4G services and for all services (which is an average of speed achieved for all technologies).

The download speed of wireless data services is dependent on various factors like number of subscribers in a particular cell, shrinkage of coverage area due to the nature of technology for 3G and 4G services upon loading, subscriber moving in a building/ basement/ lift etc. having poor coverage and therefore the data speed varies not  only  from  place  to  place  and  operator  to  operator  but  also  on  different  time instants.

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