Lok Sabha Question No. 4019 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-17
Subject: Broadband Penetration
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Ramya  Haridas

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4019 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17 TH   JULY, 2019

## BROADBAND PENETRATION

## 4019. MS. RAMYA HARIDAS:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the broadband penetration in urban and rural areas of the country separately, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether the boradband penetration in rural areas is quite less as compared to urban areas and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  National  Digital  Communications  Policy,  2018  aims  to  provide  universal broadband coverage with 50 Mbps speed to every citizen and 1 Gbps by 2022; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The data in the Department is maintained License Service Area (LSA) wise. At present there are 22 LSAs in the country. LSA wise Broadband connections in urban and rural areas in India as on 31 st March 2019  is given in Annexure.
- (b) As  on  31 st March  2019,  the  number  of  Broadband  connections  in  the  country  are  563.31 million of which 373.28 million (66.27%) are in urban areas and 190.03 million (33.73 %) are in rural areas.  Broadband connections in rural  areas have registered a growth of 78.39% during 2018-19.
- (c)  &  (d)      Yes  Sir,  the  National  Digital  Communications  Policy,  2018  aims  to  provide,  inter  alia, universal broadband connectivity at 50 Mbps to every citizen. The policy also aims to provide 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats of India by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022. For accomplishing these objectives  by  2022,  the  National  Digital  Communications  Policy-2018  envisages  three  Missions which will cover rural areas as well:
- (i) Connect India for Creating Robust Digital Communications Infrastructure
- (ii) Propel India for enabling Next Generation Technologies and Services through Investments, Innovation and IPR generation
- (iii) Secure India for Ensuring Sovereignty, Safety and Security of Digital Communications

With the aim of boosting broadband infrastructure in the rural areas and reducing the digital divide,  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) in the country.  As on 04-07- 2019,  a total of 1,31,392 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been covered  by laying 3,45,779 kms of  Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) and in  1,20,562 of these GPs equipment has also been  installed.

For ensuring last mile connectivity through the BharatNet project, the Government is setting up  25000  Wi-Fi  hotspots  at  BSNL  rural  exchanges  and  7,000  hotspots  (e-  chaupal)    at  Common Service Centre.

The Government has also planned to significantly ramp up broadband infrastructure in remote and rural areas including the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States, the North East region and the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.

Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.  4019 to be answered on 17 th     July,  2019  raised  by  Hon'ble  Member  of  Parliament  Ms.  Ramya  Haridas regarding Broadband Penetration

Service area wise broadband connections as on 31 st  March, 2019

|        |                      | Broadband connections (in million)   | Broadband connections (in million)   |
|--------|----------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| Sr.No. | License Service Area | Rural Areas                          | Urban Areas                          |
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh       | 17.32                                | 26.94                                |
| 2      | Assam                | 4.94                                 | 5.11                                 |
| 3      | Bihar                | 18.56                                | 14.57                                |
| 4      | Delhi                | 0.49                                 | 32.60                                |
| 5      | Gujarat              | 9.89                                 | 26.95                                |
| 6      | Haryana              | 4.88                                 | 8.58                                 |
| 7      | Himachal Pradesh     | 2.90                                 | 1.73                                 |
| 8      | Jammu &Kashmir       | 2.17                                 | 3.74                                 |
| 9      | Karnataka            | 10.11                                | 26.38                                |
| 10     | Kerala               | 8.98                                 | 13.44                                |
| 11     | Kolkata              | 1.37                                 | 12.63                                |
| 12     | Madhya Pradesh       | 12.27                                | 23.11                                |
| 13     | Maharashtra          | 17.03                                | 30.19                                |
| 14     | Mumbai               | 1.11                                 | 23.02                                |
| 15     | North East           | 2.42                                 | 3.51                                 |
| 16     | Orissa               | 8.00                                 | 5.60                                 |
| 17     | Punjab               | 6.31                                 | 15.35                                |
| 18     | Rajasthan            | 13.18                                | 18.61                                |
| 19     | Tamil Nadu           | 9.75                                 | 31.20                                |
| 20     | UP (East)            | 17.90                                | 19.75                                |
| 21     | UP (West)            | 9.51                                 | 18.21                                |
| 22     | West Bengal          | 10.95                                | 12.07                                |
|        | Total                | 190.03                               | 373.28                               |

Source: TRAI

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