Lok Sabha Question No. 3489 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-02
Subject: Mobile Towers
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: K. GOPAL

## M m m mGOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3489 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 ND  JANUARY, 2019

## MOBILE TOWERS

3489. DR. K. GOPAL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the telecom companies have completed installations of five lakh mobile towers in the country with a total investment of Rs.10.44 lakh crore;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  a  mobile  tower  can  house  base  stations  of  different  telecom  services providers; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a ) & (b) Yes,  Madam.  The  aggregate  number  of  mobile  towers  installed  in  the country are about 5.06 lakhas on 1 st December 2018. It includes different types of tower structures like ground-based  towers/poles, roof-top based  towers/poles, Cell-OnWheels (CoW) etc.

Total number of mobile towers installed in each License Service Area (LSA), as on 1 st December 2018, are given at Annexure-I.

Mobile tower is a passive infrastructure which also includes equipment shelter, power-supply,  battery  sets,  diesel  generators  etc.  and  is  erected  by  Infrastructure Providers (IPs) as well as Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).

Details  of  investment on  mobile  towers is  not  maintained  in  the Department  of Telecommunications. However, TSPs have reported gross capital investment of about Rs. 10.44 Lakh Crore on aggregate basis during the financial year 2016-17.

(c) & (d) Yes,  Madam.  Each  mobile  tower  can  be  co-shared  by  multiple  TSPs, subject to structural feasibility, for installation of their Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), antennae, transmission equipment etc. of various technologies like 2G/ 3G/ 4G-LTE for provisioning of mobile services.

License Service Area-wise, Mobile Towers installed in the country (as on 1 st  December 2018)

| Sr.   | License Service Area   |   Ground- based Tower/Pole |   Roof- based Tower/Pole |   Cell On- Wheels |   Others (Low Power BTS &Wall- mount) | Total   |
|-------|------------------------|----------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------------------|---------|
| 1     | Andhra Pradesh         |                      21802 |                    13540 |               212 |                                  4126 | 39680   |
| 2     | Assam                  |                       9323 |                     1746 |                35 |                                   340 | 11444   |
| 3     | Bihar                  |                      27669 |                     4006 |                58 |                                  4414 | 36147   |
| 4     | Chennai                |                       3366 |                     7731 |                15 |                                   427 | 11539   |
| 5     | Delhi                  |                       3311 |                    16548 |               620 |                                  3617 | 24096   |
| 6     | Gujarat                |                      19663 |                     8249 |               170 |                                  1193 | 29275   |
| 7     | Himachal Pradesh       |                       4542 |                      685 |                11 |                                   810 | 6048    |
| 8     | Haryana                |                       8349 |                     2171 |               116 |                                  1146 | 11782   |
| 9     | Jammu & Kashmir        |                       7167 |                      916 |               123 |                                   831 | 9037    |
| 10    | Karnataka              |                      18398 |                    11161 |                75 |                                  2869 | 32503   |
| 11    | Kolkata                |                       2616 |                     6605 |                 7 |                                  2438 | 11666   |
| 12    | Kerala                 |                      10964 |                     4963 |                70 |                                   591 | 16588   |
| 13    | Mumbai                 |                       1659 |                    11123 |                61 |                                  2101 | 14944   |
| 14    | Maharashtra            |                      22645 |                    13693 |               354 |                                  1550 | 38242   |
| 15    | Madhya Pradesh         |                      28047 |                     5517 |               251 |                                  2579 | 36394   |
| 16    | North-East             |                       5897 |                     1097 |                31 |                                   160 | 7185    |
| 17    | Odisha                 |                      14622 |                     1725 |                69 |                                   303 | 16719   |
| 18    | Punjab                 |                      10867 |                     6836 |               232 |                                  1693 | 19628   |
| 19    | Rajasthan              |                      21805 |                     3912 |               315 |                                  1659 | 27691   |
| 20    | Tamil Nadu             |                      21144 |                     6787 |                21 |                                   888 | 28840   |
| 21    | Uttar Pradesh (East)   |                      24791 |                     5170 |               131 |                                   601 | 30693   |
| 22    | Uttar Pradesh(West)    |                      19813 |                     4101 |               170 |                                  2274 | 26358   |
| 23    | West Bengal            |                      17497 |                     2159 |               100 |                                   491 | 20247   |
| Total | Total                  |                     325957 |                   140441 |              3247 |                                 37101 | 506,746 |

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