Lok Sabha Question No. 4058 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-18
Subject: Mobile Tower Density and Broadband Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Parvatagouda Chandanagouda Gaddigoudar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4058 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 TH  MARCH, 2020

## MOBILE TOWER DENSITY AND BROADBAND SERVICES

## 4058. SHRI P.C. GADDIGOUDAR:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of operational mobile towers in the country, telecom-company-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has taken any steps to increase the mobile tower density and extend broadband services in all the rural and remote areas across the country; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) As on 11.03.2020 there are 5,94,086 number of mobile towers in the country. Base Transceiver Station  (BTSs)  are  installed  by  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  on  these  mobile  towers.  Major TSP-wise number of BTSs in the country as on 11.03.2020 is given below:

| Name of TSP                   | Airtel   | BSNL     | MTNL   | Reliance JIO   | Vodafone-Idea   |
|--------------------------------|----------|----------|--------|----------------|-----------------|
| Number of BTS as on 11.03.2020 | 5,47,727 | 1,50,451 | 4,292  | 8,68,327       | 5,57,104        |

Further, new Mobile Towers/ BTSs are installed by TSPs on continuous basis to improve coverage and/or capacity of their networks based on their techno-commercial requirements.

- (b) & (c) Following Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) supported schemes/projects are approved for providing/facilitating mobile and broadband services in rural and remote areas across the country:
- (i) Under Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Phase-I project, provision of mobile connectivity at  2355  towers  locations  in  the  States  of  Andhra  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,  Madhya  Pradesh,  Maharashtra,  Odisha,  Telangana,  Uttar  Pradesh  and West Bengal has been implemented by Government of India. Under LWE Phase-II

project, installation of 2217 mobile towers has been approved for providing 2G + 4G based mobile services in these states.

- (ii) Provision of mobile connectivity in 354 villages of uncovered border areas including J & K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other priority areas has also been approved.
- (iii) A Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for mobile connectivity in the North Eastern Region to provide mobile coverage in uncovered villages along with National Highways and to augment transmission network;
- (iv) Under BharatNet  project,  broadband  connectivity  will  be  provided  in  all  the  Gram Panchayats (GPs) (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country. As reported by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), as on 24 th  February 2020, 119874 GPs are service ready under BharatNet Phase-I project and 16494 GPs are service ready under BharatNet Phase-II project;
- (v) Laying of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for providing connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
- (vi) Mobile connectivity to  cover uncovered villages  and along  National Highway (NH 223) in Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
- (vii) Mobile  connectivity  has  been  enhanced  in  Lakshadweep  Islands  by  installing  10 mobile towers;
- (viii) Satellite bandwidth augmentation upto 4 Gbps for Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
- (ix) Satellite bandwidth augmentation upto 1.71 Gbps for Lakshadweep Islands.
- (x) Aspirational  District  Scheme  for  provisioning  of  4G  based  Mobile  service  in  502 uncovered  villages  in  Aspirational  Districts  of  four  states  Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar, Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan has been approved.

Moreover, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) 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. As a result, around 15.37 lakh additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs)  for  2G/3G/4G-LTE  services  have  been  added  by  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs) during  the  period  from  March,  2014  (6.49  lakh  BTS)  to  11 th March  2020  (21.87  lakh  BTS) across the country.

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