Lok Sabha Question No. 2126 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-04
Subject: Communication Problem in Darjeeling and Kalimpong Areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Raju Bista

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2126 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  MARCH, 2020

## COMMUNICATION PROBLEM IN DARJEELING AND KALIMPONG AREAS

## 2126. SHRI RAJU BISTA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that people in the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong face severe communication  problem  with  regard  to  mobile  and  internet  network  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to achieve the dream of digital India in the said region??

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

(a) to (b) 610 Villages out of 616 inhabited villages of district Darjeeling and Kalimpong are covered by mobile services. Out of which 50 villages are covered by 2G services only and remaining villages are covered by 3G/4G service covering around 99.07% of populations. Telecom Service Provider (TSP) wise number of Base  Transceiver  Stations  (BTS)  operational  in  districts  of  Darjeeling  and  Kalimpong  are  at Annexure-I . Generally, the areas covered by 3G & 4G mobile BTSs are having better internet speed in comparison to the areas covered by 2G mobile BTSs. The download/upload speed of mobile internet is dependent on number of factors such as technology (2G/3G/4G-LTE), closeness to the cell serving the customer, the number of users being  served  by  the  cell,  the  traffic  handled  by  the  cell,  the  user  equipment/mobile  handset  used  by  the customer etc.  Further,  BSNL  is  providing  landline  internet  services  from  15  exchanges  and  to  improve  the internet services all exchanges have been converted to NGN, except 3 which will be converted to NGN by this financial  year.  Moreover,  to  improve  mobile  coverage  76  number  of  4G  BTSs  have  also  been  planned  by BSNL.

The  Government  has  planned  to  cover  all  uncovered  villages  in  a  phased  manner,  utilizing  the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Government 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.

BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country.  Under Bharat Net Phase-I project 24 GPs out of 26 GPs have been made Service Ready and 124 GPs have been planned under Bharat Net Phase -II project for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas. This infrastructure is to be utilized by TSP on non- discriminatory manner for provision of internet connectivity in GPs/ rural areas.

Government  has  taken  several  policy  initiatives  to  facilitate  infrastructure  growth  for  delivery  of quality  services.  These  include  permitting  trading/sharing/liberalisation  of  spectrum,  permitting  passive  & active  infrastructure  sharing,  notification  of  Right  of  Way  Rules  2016,  making  available  government land/buildings for installations of towers etc.  Telecom Service Providers also install mobile towers and BTSs on continuous basis to improve coverage and/or capacity of their networks based on their techno-commercial requirements.

## Annexure-I

Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  of  para  (a)  to  (b)  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2126  to  be answered  on  4 th March,  2020  raised  by  Hon'ble  Member  of  Parliament  Shri  Raju  Bista,  regarding 'Communication Problem in Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas'

TSP wise number of BTS operational in districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong

| Sr. No.   | TSP name   | Number of Operational BTSs   | Number of Operational BTSs   |
|-----------|------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|
| Sr. No.   | TSP name   | Kalimpong district           | Darjeeling district          |
| 1         | Airtel     | 170                          | 1085                         |
| 2         | RJIO       | 151                          | 1198                         |
| 3         | VIL        | 116                          | 812                          |
| 4         | BSNL       | 19                           | 285                          |
| Total     | Total      | 456                          | 3380                         |

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