Lok Sabha Question No. 499 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Services and Spectrum by BSNL
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.499 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## SERVICES AND SPECTRUM BY BSNL

- †499. SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether BSNL, which is 100 per cent owned by the Government is providing its services to remote and rural areas and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether 4G spectrum has been allocated to this company so far;
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether  due  to  non-allocation  of  4G  spectrum,  BSNL  is  unable  to  compete  with  the private operators resulting in gradual loss of revenue;
- (e) if so, the reasons therefor; and
- (f) the  annual  losses  suffered  by  the  company  along  with  the  steps  taken  by  the Government to tide over the losses?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  is  providing  wireline  and  wireless  services  on pan-India basis (excluding Delhi and Mumbai) including remote and rural areas.  State/ Circlewise details of villages covered by BSNL mobile network is at Annexure-I.
- (b) to (e) BSNL  was  allotted  2x5MHz  (paired)  spectrum  in  the  2100  MHz  and  20  MHz unpaired spectrum in 2500 MHz frequency band in 20 Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) to deploy any technology including 4G services.  BSNL also have spectrum allotment in 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands on administrative basis.  Such administratively allotted spectrum can be liberalised and used to deploy any technology including 4G services.

BSNL has submitted a proposal to allot spectrum of 2x5 MHz (paired) in 2100 MHz band in 19 LSAs and for 2x5 MHz (paired) in the 800 MHz band in one LSA (Rajasthan) for providing 4G services with Government support.

- (f) BSNL has incurred net loss of Rs.7992.85 crore in the financial year 2017-18.

Steps taken to facilitate BSNL to compete in telecom sector are at Annexure-II.

## Annexure-I

## Number of villages covered by BSNL's mobile services as on 31.12.2018

| Sl. No.   | State/Circle              |   Total number of Villages (census 2011) |   Number of villages covered with mobile services as on 31.12.2018 |
|-----------|---------------------------|------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar Islands |                                      555 |                                                                345 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh            |                                    17039 |                                                              12688 |
| 3         | Assam                     |                                    26395 |                                                              20728 |
| 4         | Bihar                     |                                    44874 |                                                              29064 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh              |                                    20125 |                                                              12614 |
| 6         | Chennai                   |                                     1636 |                                                               1610 |
| 7         | Gujarat                   |                                    18309 |                                                              13080 |
| 8         | Haryana                   |                                     6841 |                                                               4491 |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh          |                                    20690 |                                                              18017 |
| 10        | Jammu & Kashmir           |                                     6553 |                                                               4219 |
| 11        | Jharkhand                 |                                    32394 |                                                              20079 |
| 12        | Karnataka                 |                                    29340 |                                                              19973 |
| 13        | Kerala                    |                                     1039 |                                                               1034 |
| 14        | Kolkata                   |                                      750 |                                                                707 |
| 15        | Madhya Pradesh            |                                    54903 |                                                              32325 |
| 16        | Maharashtra               |                                    43999 |                                                              22026 |
| 17        | North East-I              |                                     8544 |                                                               2622 |
| 18        | North East-II             |                                     9532 |                                                               4463 |
| 19        | Odisha                    |                                    51313 |                                                              26202 |
| 20        | Punjab                    |                                    12592 |                                                              11333 |
| 21        | Rajasthan                 |                                    44672 |                                                              26372 |
| 22        | Tamil Nadu                |                                    14433 |                                                              12162 |
| 23        | Telangana                 |                                    10761 |                                                               8352 |
| 24        | Uttar Pradesh (East)      |                                    80029 |                                                              76265 |
| 25        | Uttar Pradesh (West)      |                                    26745 |                                                              14439 |
| 26        | Uttarakhand               |                                    16793 |                                                              13147 |
| 27        | West Bengal               |                                    40669 |                                                              27722 |
|           | Total:                    |                                   641525 |                                                             436079 |

## Steps taken to improve position of BSNL:

Department of Telecom (DoT) is utilising the strength and competence of BSNL to implement a number of important projects such as:

1. Providing  mobile  connectivity  in  2199  identified  locations  in  Left  Wing  Extremism (LWE) affected areas
2. Implementation  of  comprehensive  telecom  development  plan  for  Andaman  and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands through augmentation of satellite connectivity/bandwidth
3. Optical Fibre Cable based Network for Defence Services (NFS Project)
4. Execution of BharatNet Project
5. Comprehensive  Telecom  Development  Plan  for  the  North-Eastern    Region  for provision  of  mobile  services  in  uncovered  villages  in  Arunachal  Pradesh  and  two districts of Assam
6. Implementation of transmission media plan for North Eastern Region
7. Submarine  Optical  Fibre  Project  for  providing  connectivity  to  the  Andaman  and Nicobar Islands
8. Setting up of 25000 Wi-Fi Hotspots at Rural Telephone Exchanges of BSNL
9. Setting up of Satellite Gateway.

This improves the capacity utilisation of the organisation, enhances and diversifies the revenue generating avenues while at the same time facilitating the fulfilment of Government objectives.

BSNL has also been encouraged to take measures such as;

1. Augmentation of mobile equipment capacity/upgradation of mobile network in its areas under Phase-VIII.4 project.
2. To  improve  quality  of  wireline  telephone  network  BSNL  will  replace  Legacy  Public Switched  Telephone  Network  (PSTN)  switches  to  Next  Generation  Network  (NGN) which  support  different  kind  of  services  i.e.  voice,  video  and  data.  With  migration  to NGN, customer will get enhanced Value Added Services on wire line like Personalized Ring  Back  Tone,  Multi  Media  Video  Conferencing,  IP  Centrex,  Limited  Fixed  Mobile Telephony  (LFMT)  and  Fixed  Mobile  convergence(FMC),  etc.  This  will  provide  better facilities to customers and at lower maintenance cost to BSNL.
3. Transport  Network  with  200  GBPS  line  capacity  connecting  47  state  Capitals  and important cities. Work in 45 cities have already been completed.
4. Routers  have  been  installed  and  commissioned  where  by  IP-MPLS  network  has increased from 106 cities to 205 cities providing connectivity for broadband, NGN 2G/3G requirements.

************