Lok Sabha Question No. 553 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Broadband Coverage
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 553 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH   NOVEMBER, 2019

## BROADBAND COVERAGE

## 553. SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to expand internet coverage in the country, especially in the State of Odisha;
- (b) whether the Government has provided/propose to provide any incentives to Telecom Service Providers  (TSPs)  to  set  up  communication  towers  in  thinly  populated  areas  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (c) the broadband coverage in the country, State/UT-wise along with its comparison with other countries; and
- (d) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to rationalize the cost of broadband services in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (c) As  per  'The  Indian  Telecom  Services  Performance  Indicators'  report  released  by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI on 01 st October 2019 for the period April-June, 2019, there were total 665.31 million internet subscribers in the country. Out of these, 594.38 million are broadband  and  70.72  million  are  narrowband  internet  subscribers.  Out  of  these  665.31  million internet  subscribers,  there  are  427.05  million  urban  internet  subscribers  and  238.26  million  rural internet subscribers in the country.

For expanding the internet / broadband services in rural areas, BharatNet (one of the biggest rural  telecom  projects  of  the  world)  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  for  providing Broadband infrastructure to all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country, including Odisha.

As on 07.11.2019, a total of 1,40,668 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected by laying 3,80,988  km  underground  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC)  and  1,28,376  GPs  have  been  made  Service Ready, and in the remaining GPs the project is under implementation.

In Odisha, a total of 3944 (including Block Head Quarters) GPs have been connected under BharatNet project by laying 12201  Km OFC as on 24.09.2019, out of which 3,656 GPs are Service Ready.

Further, as part of this flagship project, the Last Mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology to access broadband /internet services, is provided at all the GPs in the country.  As  on  07.11.2019,  95  active  Wi-Fi  connections  and  685  Fiber  to  the  Home  (FTTH) connections have been installed under BharatNet.

Under Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-II project Scheme, 158 Mobile towers at MHA identified locations are proposed in Odisha.

Licensed Service Area wise internet penetration (Internet Subscribers per 100 population) in the country as on 30 th June, 2019 is enclosed as Annexure.

As per some reports available in the public domain, India is the second highest user of internet in the world.

(d) As per provisions of TRAI Act 1997 as amended in the year 2000, subject matter of tariff falls under the jurisdiction of TRAI. Presently, tariff for data services is under forbearance and Telecom Service Providers have the flexibility to fix the prices of data services.

## Annexure

## Licensed service area wise number of internet penetration (Internet Subscribers per 100 population) in the country as on 30 th June, 2019

| License Service Area   | number of internet subscribers per 100 population   |
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh         | 57.33                                               |
| Assam                  | 36.62                                               |
| Bihar                  | 29.19                                               |
| Delhi                  | 158.64                                              |
| Gujarat                | 62.78                                               |
| Haryana                | 53.42                                               |
| Himachal Pradesh       | 73.60                                               |
| Jammu &Kashmir         | 54.20                                               |
| Karnataka              | 65.92                                               |
| Kerala                 | 69.66                                               |
| Madhya Pradesh         | 39.93                                               |
| Maharashtra            | 65.36                                               |
| Mumbai                 |                                                     |
| North East             | 49.01                                               |
| Orissa                 | 38.61                                               |
| Punjab                 | 75.11                                               |
| Rajasthan              | 50.11                                               |
| Tamil Nadu             | 64.92                                               |
| Uttar Pradesh (East)   | 34.01                                               |
| Uttar Pradesh (West)   |                                                     |
| Kolkata                | 45.91                                               |
| West Bengal            |                                                     |
| Total                  | 50.52                                               |

Notes: Data/information for Andhra Pradesh includes Telengana, Madhya  Pradesh includes Chhatishgarh, Bihar includes Jharkhand, Maharashtra includes Goa, Uttar Pradesh includes Uttarakhand,  West  Bengal  includes  Sikkim  and  North-East  includes  Arunachal  Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura states

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