Lok Sabha Question No. 1436 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-19
Subject: Number of Internet Users
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH, NALIN KUMAR KATEEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1436 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19 th   DECEMBER, 2018

## NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS

1436.  SHRI D.K. SURESH: SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any data collected about the use of internet in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether it is true that the number of internet users is increasing in the recent times and if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
- (c) whether  the  Government  is  contemplating  to  increase  the  usage  of  internet  in  the country and enable people to have better access to e-governance and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken note that the quality of internet services is very poor and people suffer due to it; and
- (e) if so, the steps being taken to address the issue of providing better internet services ?

## ANSWER

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

(a) The government collects data on internet users and traffic on a regular basis. At the end of  September 2018, the number of Internet subscribers (both broadband and narrowband put together) stood at 560.01 million. The number of rural subscribers was 194.07 million while the number of subscribers in urban areas was 365.94 million.

Internet traffic has also witnessed phenomenal growth, touching highest ever data usage of 22.43 million terabytes during the year 2017 (January-December). Of this, fixed broadband traffic was 2.78 million terabytes and mobile broadband traffic was 19.65 million terabytes.

- (b) Internet penetration in the country has been increasing steadily over the past few years. The service area wise number of internet subscriptions during last three years and current year are given at Annexure-I.
- (c) The Government has initiated the 'Digital India' programme with the vision to transform India  into  a  digitally  empowered  society  and  knowledge  economy.  For  better  access  to  egovernance  services,  the  Government  has  initiated  the  project  'Common  Services  Centre (CSC) 2.0' in August, 2015 under Digital India Programme, which envisages setting up of at least one CSC at Gram Panchayat (GP) to cover all the 2.5 lakh GPs across the country. Over

300 digital services are being offered by these CSCs. Till November 2018, 3.05 lakh Common Services Centres are active and transacting for delivery of eServices of which 2.10 lakh are at GP level.

Towards achieving the goal of providing broadband for all citizens, the Government is implementing  the  flagship  BharatNet  project  in  a  phased  manner  for  providing  Broadband connectivity to all the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) of the country. Bharatnet is an essential pillar of Digital India programme of the Government. Phase I of BharatNet for connecting 1 lakh GPs has been completed in December 2017. Phase II of the project is under implementation. As  on  date  a  total  of  1,21,859  Gram  Panchayats  have  been  connected  on  Optical  Fibre Cable(OFC) by laying 3,02,621 Km of OFC. Of this, 1,16,492 GPs are now service ready.

The BharatNet project also envisages access to broadband service through Wi-Fi in all the  GPs  in  the  country  for  ensuring  last  mile  connectivity.  At  each  GP,  on  an  average,  five Access  Points  (APs)  are  envisaged  to  be  provided,  of  which  three  APs  are  for  Government institutions  and  two  APs  for  public  places.  In  addition  to  the  wi-fi  hotspots  provisioned  in BharatNet, the Government proposes to setup 25,000 Public Wi-Fi Hotspots infrastructure  at BSNL's Telephone Exchanges in rural areas.

(d) & (e) TRAI had laid down the Quality of Service standards for Broadband & Wireless Data  services  through  regulations  issued  from  time  to  time  and  the  performance  of  service providers  against  these  standards  is  monitored  through  quarterly  Performance  Monitoring Reports (PMR) submitted by service providers for the service area as a whole.

As  per  PMR  for  the  quarter  ending  September  2018,  for  Broadband  Services  all  the service  providers  are  meeting  the  benchmarks  for  all  the  parameters  except  the  service providers as per Annexure-II.

As  regards  Wireless  data  services,  all  the  service  providers  are  complying  with  the benchmark for various Quality of Service parameters.

TRAI has taken the following steps to address the issue of providing better internet services:

-  Monitoring of Quality of Service performed  by service providers against the benchmarks for the various Quality of Service parameters laid down by TRAI through regulations issued from time to time, by way of (i) Quarterly Performance Monitoring Report submitted by service providers (ii) Audit and Assessment of Quality of Service through independent agencies appointed by TRAI.
-  Publication  of  results  of  Audit  &  Assessment  of  Quality  of  Service  of  Broadband Services  on  TRAI  website  namely  www.trai.gov.in  for  information  of  stakeholders, forcing the service providers to improve their services.
-  Imposition  of  financial  disincentives  for  non-compliance  with  the  benchmarks  for Quality of Service parameters.

## ANNEXURE I

## Service Area wise Internet Connection

(million)

| Service area     |   As on 31.03.2016 |   As on 31.03.2017 |   As on 31.03.2018 |   As on 30.09.2018 |
|------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh   |              24.87 |              31.8  |              37.61 |              43.78 |
| Assam            |               6.76 |               8.07 |               9.81 |              10.25 |
| Bihar            |              19.63 |              24.1  |              28.4  |              32.73 |
| Delhi            |              20.59 |              26.79 |              31.14 |              32.93 |
| Gujarat          |              21.1  |              27.3  |              31.43 |              35.91 |
| Haryana          |               7.56 |               9.63 |               9.05 |              13.58 |
| Himachal Pradesh |               3.02 |               3.76 |               6.94 |               4.64 |
| Jammu & Kashmir  |               3.65 |               4.51 |               5.81 |               6.02 |
| Karnataka        |              22.63 |              26.87 |              32.14 |              35.71 |
| Kerala           |              14.6  |              16.55 |              19.8  |              22.58 |
| Kolkata          |               9.26 |              11.66 |              13.35 |              14.19 |
| Madhya Pradesh   |              20.41 |              24.77 |              25.88 |              35.41 |
| Maharashtra      |              29.47 |              35.94 |              39.45 |              46.11 |
| Mumbai           |              15.65 |              19.57 |              22.48 |              24.33 |
| North East       |               4.06 |               4.75 |               5.94 |               6.09 |
| Orissa           |               8.29 |              10.51 |              12.2  |              13.25 |
| Punjab           |              13.46 |              16.65 |              18.63 |              21.14 |
| Rajasthan        |              17.24 |              21.55 |              26.46 |              32.07 |
| Tamil Nadu       |              28.01 |              32.32 |              39.57 |              40.71 |
| UP (East)        |              22.47 |              28.58 |              34.75 |              38.18 |
| UP (West)        |              16.54 |              19.93 |              23.79 |              27.78 |
| West Bengal      |              13.38 |              16.58 |              19.31 |              22.62 |
| Total            |             342.66 |             422.19 |             493.95 |             560.01 |

Source: TRAI

## Annexure-II

## Service Providers not meeting the QoS benchmarks as per the PMR for the quarter ending 30 th September, 2018

|   S.N | Service Provider                         | Parameter not met                                  | Parameter not met                                                                                               | Benchm ark   | Service Area            |
|-------|------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|-------------------------|
|     1 | MTNL                                     | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                                                        | =>99%        | Delhi & Mumbai (98.32%) |
|     2 | Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                                                        | =>99%        | All India (98.74%)      |
|     2 | Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | Response time to the customer for assistance       | %age of calls answered by operator (Voice to voice) within 60 sec                                               | >60%         | All India (39.00%)      |
|     2 | Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | Response time to the customer for assistance       | %age of calls answered by operator (Voice to voice) within 90 sec                                               | >80%         | All India (58.00%)      |
|     3 | Intech Online Pvt. Ltd.                  | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired by next working day >90%)                                                                   | >90%         | Mum. & Mah. (80.81%)    |
|     3 | Intech Online Pvt. Ltd.                  | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                                                        | =>99%        | Mum. & Mah. (88.70%)    |
|     3 | Intech Online Pvt. Ltd.                  | Billing Performance                                | %age of bills disputed                                                                                          | <2%          | Mum. & Mah. (3.01%)     |
|     4 | Ishan Netsol Pvt. Ltd.                   | Service Provisioning                               | %age of connections provided within 15 days of registration of demand                                           | 100%         | Gujarat (99.76%)        |
|     4 | Ishan Netsol Pvt. Ltd.                   | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                                                        | =>99%        | Gujarat (98.48%)        |
|     4 | Ishan Netsol Pvt. Ltd.                   | Bandwidth utilisation/ throughput                  | No. of Intra network links having Bandwidth utilisation >90% during peak hours (TCBH)                           | 0            | Gujarat (62)            |
|     4 | Ishan Netsol Pvt. Ltd.                   | Bandwidth utilisation/ throughput                  | No. of Upstream links for International connectivity having bandwidth utilisation >90% during peak hours (TCBH) | 0            | Gujarat (18)            |
|     5 | K Net Solutions Pvt. Ltd.                | Service availability/uptime (for all user) in %age | Service availability/uptime (for all user) in %age                                                              | >98%         | Tamilnadu (50.05%)      |
|     6 | TATA (TTSL)                              | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired by next working day (>90%)                                                                  | >90%         | All India (82.00%)      |
|     6 | TATA (TTSL)                              | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                                                        | =>99%        | All India (94.00%)      |
|     7 | TATA (TTML)                              | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired by next working day (>90%)                                                                  | >90%         | Maharashtra (77.00%)    |
|     7 | TATA (TTML)                              | Faults Repair                                      | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                                                        | =>99%        | Maharashtra (91.00%)    |
|     8 | You Broadband                            | Service Provisioning                               | %age of connections provided within 15 days of registration of demand                                           | 100%         | All India (99.71%)      |

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