Lok Sabha Question No. 123 (STARRED), answered on 2019-11-27
Subject: Broadband /Internet Facility
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Krupal Balaji Tumane

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 123 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH   NOVEMBER, 2019

## BROADBAND /INTERNET FACILITY

## †*123. SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a large part of rural population is deprived of broadband/internet facility, if so, the details  thereof  and  the  reasons  therefor  along  with  the  number  of  villages  provided  with  internet connectivity under the BharatNet Project so far, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether the Government has not been successful in achieving the target fixed for providing internet/broadband connectivity to villages and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has reviewed the broadband project design for rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the expert  committee  related  to  the  National  Optical  Fibre  Network  has  suggested measures to revive the Bharat Broadband Network and demanded to set up an empowered project group and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; and
- (e) whether the Government has asked the States to submit the report on BharatNet project and certain States have proposed their own broadband network model, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to (e) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) to (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *123 FOR 27 TH  NOVEMBER, 2019  ON 'BROADBAND /INTERNET FACILITY'.

(a) & (b) Internet  is  being  currently  accessed  mainly  through  mobile  wireless  technologies, which  at  present  cover  more  than  95%  of  population  of  the  country.  As  of  June  2019,  the  total number of internet and broadband subscribers were 23.8 crore and 20.3 crore respectively in the rural areas of the country. As per data collected from the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in 2019, it is estimated  that  out  of  total  5,97,618  inhabited  villages  (as  per  the  Census  2011)  in  the  country, 5,69,897 are covered by mobile services. Mobile coverage in remaining villages is being provided by the Government and Telecom Service Providers in a phased manner.

BharatNet  project  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  to  provide  broadband/internet connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country. As on 07.11.2019, a total of 1,28,376 GPs have been made Service Ready.  The State-wise details are given in Annexure-I .

As part of BharatNet project, the Last Mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband  technology,  to  access  broadband  /internet  services,  is  to  be  provided  at  all  Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. Accordingly, the provisioning of 2 Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) for about  1.25  lakh  GPs  under  Ph-I  is  under  implementation.  As  of  now,  Wi-Fi  hotspots  have  been installed in 45,769 GPs and services are being provided in 16,151 GPs. The State-wise details are given in Annexure-I . Under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) scheme, 25,000 public WiFi hotspots are being set up using the infrastructure of telephone exchanges of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in rural areas of the country. As of October 2019, Wi-Fi hotspots have been set up /installed  in  24,118  rural  exchanges  and  out  of  them,  Wi-Fi  services  are  being  provided  at  23,082 rural exchanges.

(c) & (d) In order to review the strategy and approach to align National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) with the vision of Digital India and towards speedy implementation of NOFN, an Expert Committee  was  constituted  by  the  Government  of  India  in  January,  2015.  The  Expert  Committee recommended,  inter  alia,  for  renaming  the  project  as  'BharatNet'.  The  Expert  Committee  also recommended  the  creation  of  an  Empowered  Project  Group,  mainly  to  take  decisions  on  matters referred  to  it  by  Bharat  Broadband  Network  Limited  (BBNL),  which  are  beyond  the  purview  of BBNL to decide.

Based on the recommendations of the Expert Committee and implementation experience of Phase-I,  the  Union  Cabinet  in  the  year  2017  approved  a  modified  implementation  strategy  for  the project (renamed as BharatNet).

(e) In the modified strategy approved by the Union Cabinet, the State-led model is also included for  implementation  of  BharatNet  Phase-II.  Accordingly,  based  on  the  Detailed  Project  Reports (DPRs) submitted by the States, the Telecom Commission (Now known as Digital Communications Commission) has approved the implementation  of  BharatNet  Phase-II  under  State-led  Model  in  8 States namely Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Telangana. The Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) have been signed with the States and the project execution is at different stages of implementation.

## Annexure referred to in Part (a) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *123 for Answer on 27.11.2019.

## Status of BharatNet connectivity

| S. No.   | State/UT                  |   Service Ready GPs (Including BHQs) |   No. of GPs where Wi-Fi hotspots installed |
|----------|---------------------------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh            |                                 1589 |                                           0 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh         |                                  230 |                                         142 |
| 3        | Andaman &Nicobar          |                                    8 |                                           0 |
| 4        | Assam                     |                                 1622 |                                           4 |
| 5        | Bihar                     |                                 7406 |                                         295 |
| 6        | Chandigarh                |                                   13 |                                          12 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh              |                                 4536 |                                         517 |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli       |                                   21 |                                           0 |
| 9        | Daman &Diu                |                                   18 |                                           0 |
| 10       | Gujarat                   |                                 8442 |                                          26 |
| 11       | Haryana                   |                                 6188 |                                        1063 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh          |                                  241 |                                         330 |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh |                                  977 |                                         739 |
| 14       | Jharkhand                 |                                 2425 |                                         312 |
| 15       | Karnataka                 |                                 6235 |                                        2569 |
| 16       | Kerala                    |                                 1129 |                                         731 |
| 17       | Lakshadweep               |                                    0 |                                           0 |
| 18       | Madhya Pradesh            |                                12752 |                                        1350 |
| 19       | Maharashtra               |                                15245 |                                         776 |
| 20       | Manipur                   |                                  326 |                                         161 |
| 21       | Mizoram                   |                                   41 |                                           0 |
| 22       | Meghalaya                 |                                  192 |                                          70 |
| 23       | Nagaland                  |                                  127 |                                           0 |
| 24       | Odisha                    |                                 3697 |                                         111 |
| 25       | Puducherry                |                                  101 |                                          81 |
| 26       | Punjab                    |                                10996 |                                           0 |
| 27       | Rajasthan                 |                                 8713 |                                        8813 |
| 28       | Sikkim                    |                                   18 |                                           0 |
| 29       | Tamil Nadu                |                                    0 |                                           0 |
| 30       | Telangana                 |                                 2047 |                                           0 |
| 31       | Tripura                   |                                  558 |                                          80 |
| 32       | Uttar Pradesh             |                                28738 |                                       27223 |
| 33       | Uttarakhand               |                                 1525 |                                         353 |
| 34       | West Bengal               |                                 2220 |                                          11 |
| Total    | Total                     |                               128376 |                                       45769 |

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