Lok Sabha Question No. 2889 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-10
Subject: Telecommunication Facilities in Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Hanuman Beniwal, Nishikant  Dubey, Nihal Chand Chauhan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2889 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10 TH   JULY, 2019

## TELECOMMUNICATION FACILITIES IN VILLAGES

## 2889.   SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY:

SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL:

DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

SHRI NIHAL CHAND:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether all the villages in the country including tribal areas of various States have been linked with telecommunication facilities particularly mobile telephone facilities and if so, the details  of  the number of such villages and tribal areas thereof, State/UT-wise;
- (b) if not, the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) the  target  fixed  and  achieved  by  the  Government  and  action  plan,  if  any,  for  extension  of telecommunication services across all the villages during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise; and
- (d) the funds allocated/spent by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d) According  to  the  data  collected  from  the  telecom  service  providers  in  2018,  it  is estimated  that  out  of  5,97,618  inhabited  villages(as  per  the  Census  2011)  in  the  country,  5,54,530 villages are covered with mobile services and 43088 villages are not covered by mobile services. The State/ Union Territories (UT)-wise list of uncovered villages is at Annexure-I.

'BharatNet'  is  being  implemented  to  provide  broadband  connectivity  to  all  Gram  Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh GPs) in the country.  As on date, 3,37,515 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid, thereby connecting 1,28,870 GPs by OFC. A total of 120,341 GPs are service ready. State/UTwise status of service ready GPs under BharatNet project is as at Annexure-II.

The reasons for not having mobile services in all villages include, inter-alia, remote and tough terrain,  areas  diversely  located  with  scattered  population  and  commercially  non-viable  operations. However, mobile coverage in the uncovered villages is being provided in a phased manner. Following projects are being implemented by the Government for providing/facilitating telecom services:

- i. Under  Left  Wing  Extremism  affected  areas  Phase-II  project,  Government  has  approved installation of 3465 mobile towers for providing mobile connectivity.
- ii. Providing mobile connectivity in 361 villages of border areas, Ladakh and Kargil Region and other priority areas.
- 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 strengthen transmission network
- iv. Laying of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for providing connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- v. Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation upto 4 Gbps for Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- vi. Mobile  connectivity  to  cover  uncovered  villages  and  along  National  Highway  (NH  223)  in Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- vii. Augmentation of Satellite bandwidth from 318 Mbps to 1.71 Gbps for Lakshadweep Islands

The State/UT wise details of funds disbursed by Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) for BharatNet project is at Annexure-III .  The State/UT-wise details of the amount of funds utilized and number of towers set up by the Government from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile services in the country during the last three years is at Annexure-IV.

ANNEXURE-I Annexure referred to in reply of para (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2889 to be answered on 10th July, 2019 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament Shri Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Shri Hanuman Beniwal, Dr. Nishikant Dubey, Shri Nihal Chand regarding Telecommunication Facilities in Villages. State/ UT wise list of villages regarding mobile services

| Sl. No.   | State/UT            | Number of inhabited villages as per census 2011   | No. of inhabited villages covered with\mobile services   | No. of inhabited villages without mobile services   |
|-----------|---------------------|---------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman &Nicobar    | 396                                               | 231                                                      | 165                                                 |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh      | 16158                                             | 13413                                                    | 2745                                                |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh   | 5258                                              | 3043                                                     | 2215                                                |
| 4.        | Assam               | 25372                                             | 24457                                                    | 915                                                 |
| 5.        | Bihar               | 39073                                             | 38810                                                    | 263                                                 |
| 6.        | Chandigarh          | 5                                                 | 5                                                        | 0                                                   |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh        | 19567                                             | 16004                                                    | 3563                                                |
| 8.        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 65                                                | 65                                                       | 0                                                   |
| 9.        | Daman &Diu          | 19                                                | 19                                                       | 0                                                   |
| 10.       | NCT of Delhi        | 103                                               | 103                                                      | 0                                                   |
| 11.       | Goa                 | 320                                               | 273                                                      | 47                                                  |
| 12.       | Gujarat             | 17843                                             | 16581                                                    | 1262                                                |
| 13.       | Haryana             | 6642                                              | 6634                                                     | 8                                                   |
| 14.       | Himachal Pradesh    | 17882                                             | 17671                                                    | 211                                                 |
| 15.       | Jammu &Kashmir      | 6337                                              | 6009                                                     | 328                                                 |
| 16.       | Jharkhand           | 29492                                             | 28270                                                    | 1222                                                |
| 17.       | Karnataka           | 27397                                             | 26528                                                    | 869                                                 |
| 18.       | Kerala              | 1017                                              | 1017                                                     | 0                                                   |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep         | 6                                                 | 5                                                        | 1                                                   |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh      | 51929                                             | 46371                                                    | 5558                                                |
| 21.       | Maharashtra         | 40959                                             | 34842                                                    | 6117                                                |
| 22.       | Manipur             | 2515                                              | 1638                                                     | 877                                                 |
| 23.       | Meghalaya           | 6459                                              | 3768                                                     | 2691                                                |
| 24.       | Mizoram             | 704                                               | 390                                                      | 314                                                 |
| 25.       | Nagaland            | 1400                                              | 1072                                                     | 328                                                 |
| 26.       | Odisha              | 47677                                             | 37737                                                    | 9940                                                |
| 27.       | Punjab              | 90                                                | 90                                                       | 4                                                   |
| 28.       | Puducherry          | 12168                                             | 12164                                                    | 0                                                   |
| 29.       | Rajasthan           | 43264                                             | 41862                                                    | 1402                                                |
| 30.       | Sikkim              | 425                                               | 412                                                      | 13                                                  |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu          | 15049                                             | 14966                                                    | 83                                                  |
| 32.       | Telangana           | 10128                                             | 9481                                                     | 647                                                 |
| 33.       | Tripura             | 863                                               | 847                                                      | 16                                                  |
| 34.       | Uttarakhand         | 97813                                             | 97518                                                    | 552                                                 |
| 35.       | Uttar Pradesh       | 15745                                             | 15193                                                    | 295                                                 |
| 36.       | West Bengal         | 37478                                             | 37041                                                    | 437                                                 |
|           | TOTAL               | 5,97,618                                          | 5,54,530                                                 | 43,088                                              |

Annexure referred to in reply of para (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2889 to be answered on 10th July, 2019 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament Shri Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Shri Hanuman Beniwal, Dr. Nishikant Dubey, Shri Nihal Chand regarding Telecommunication Facilities in Villages.

## Status of GPs connected with Optical Fiber under BharatNet Project

| Sr. No   | States/UTs           |   Number of GPs connected with Optical Fiber |   Number of GPs where Broadband Connectivity has been provided |
|----------|----------------------|----------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andaman &Nicobar     |                                           23 |                                                              0 |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh       |                                         1513 |                                                           1492 |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh    |                                          565 |                                                            146 |
| 4        | Assam                |                                         1622 |                                                           1622 |
| 5        | Bihar                |                                         6712 |                                                           6159 |
| 6        | Chandigarh           |                                           13 |                                                             13 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh         |                                         4303 |                                                           4088 |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli  |                                           21 |                                                             21 |
| 9        | Daman &Diu           |                                           18 |                                                             18 |
| 10       | Gujarat              |                                         6405 |                                                           5829 |
| 11       | Haryana              |                                         6188 |                                                           6188 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh     |                                          234 |                                                            234 |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir       |                                          368 |                                                            881 |
| 14       | Jharkhand            |                                         2643 |                                                           2407 |
| 15       | Karnataka            |                                         6242 |                                                           6158 |
| 16       | Kerala               |                                         1129 |                                                           1129 |
| 17       | Lakshdweep           |                                            0 |                                                              0 |
| 18       | Madhya Pradesh       |                                        13360 |                                                          12722 |
| 19       | Maharashtra          |                                        15665 |                                                          15173 |
| 20       | Manipur              |                                          374 |                                                            323 |
| 21       | Meghalaya            |                                          352 |                                                            192 |
| 22       | Mizoram              |                                          130 |                                                             41 |
| 23       | Nagaland             |                                          644 |                                                            119 |
| 24       | Odisha               |                                         3915 |                                                           3646 |
| 25       | Puducherry           |                                           98 |                                                            101 |
| 26       | Punjab               |                                         9292 |                                                           8318 |
| 27       | Rajasthan            |                                         8712 |                                                           8642 |
| 28       | Sikkim               |                                           41 |                                                             17 |
| 29       | Tamil Nadu           |                                            0 |                                                              0 |
| 30       | Telangana            |                                         2047 |                                                           2047 |
| 31       | Tripura              |                                          817 |                                                            543 |
| 32       | Uttar Pradesh (East) |                                        20108 |                                                          18031 |
| 33       | Uttar Pradesh (West) |                                        11447 |                                                          10354 |
| 34       | Uttarakhand          |                                         1541 |                                                           1516 |
| 35       | West Bengal          |                                         2328 |                                                           2171 |
|          | Total                |                                       128870 |                                                         120341 |

## Annexure-III

Annexure referred to in reply of para (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2889 to be answered on 10th July, 2019 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament Shri Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Shri Hanuman Beniwal, Dr. Nishikant Dubey, Shri Nihal Chand regarding Telecommunication Facilities in Villages.

## State/UT-wise funds disbursed by BBNL for BharatNet project*

|   S.No. | State                                      |   Year 16-17 |   Year 17-18 |   Year 18-19 |
|---------|--------------------------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
|       1 | Andaman & Nicobar                          |     18464332 |      1600000 |            0 |
|       2 | Andhra Pradesh                             |            0 |    847980000 |   1812083295 |
|       3 | Arunachal Pradesh                          |    176787283 |    139671853 |      5967951 |
|       4 | Assam                                      |    891768154 |     30088614 |     41069932 |
|       5 | Bihar                                      |   1900995444 |    225376634 |    483712053 |
|       6 | Chattisgarh                                |   2412033156 |   2368208766 |   2395577291 |
|       7 | Gujarat, Dadra & Nagra Haveli, Daman & Diu |   1297999723 |   2304089756 |   3110068187 |
|       8 | Haryana                                    |    906575955 |   1346574610 |     94664743 |
|       9 | Himachal Pradesh                           |    525127700 |     13045540 |      6356752 |
|      10 | Jammu & Kashmir                            |    423750351 |     36357422 |    137758733 |
|      11 | Jharkhand                                  |    813945657 |    481310822 |   1121262052 |
|      12 | Karnataka                                  |     12490077 |   2246872986 |    238419660 |
|      13 | Kerala                                     |    259560814 |            0 |            0 |
|      14 | Lakshadweep                                |            0 |            0 |            0 |
|      15 | Madhya Pradesh                             |   4519556872 |   1902222230 |   1536060473 |
|      16 | Maharashtra                                |   5851859025 |   4235640248 |   3701109151 |
|      17 | Manipur                                    |    185186215 |    146307480 |     31312662 |
|      18 | Meghalaya                                  |    247461226 |    195508225 |     20819377 |
|      19 | Mizoram                                    |    132129545 |    123487397 |     16933556 |
|      20 | Nagaland                                   |    203622896 |    160873490 |    137020415 |
|      21 | Odisha                                     |   1158064960 |    468995146 |    778596908 |
|      22 | Pudducherry                                |     22342903 |      5316342 |            0 |
|      23 | Punjab                                     |   2362941194 |            0 |    526383240 |
|      24 | Rajasthan                                  |   1624698933 |   1082712706 |   1224720159 |
|      25 | Sikkim                                     |    432268500 |      5780972 |            0 |

| 26            | Tamil Nadu                             | 0                                      |   1106410000 | 0           |
|---------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|--------------|-------------|
| 27            | Telengana                              | 82389383                               |   1122780000 | 74344690    |
| 28            | Tripura                                | 209153900                              |    165243293 | 36899351    |
| 29            | Uttar Pradesh (East)                   | 4231734476                             |    105114087 | 1268510803  |
| 30            | Uttar Pradesh (West)                   | 2121295001                             |    672513579 | 1167988739  |
| 31            | Uttarakhand                            | 1274448954                             |     30802089 | 28550190    |
| 32            | West Bengal                            | 1416285784                             |    910420748 | 114694430   |
|               | Total                                  | 35714938415                            |  22481305036 | 20110884793 |
| * *GPON & OFC | * *GPON & OFC                          | 5554481492                             |   2584191463 |             |
|               | ***Advance given to BSNL for Phase- II | ***Advance given to BSNL for Phase- II |  23020000000 | 8630000000  |
|               | Grand Total                            | 41269419907                            |  48085496499 | 28740884793 |

Reconciliation of Data regarding Utilization of funds by CPSUs/ State Governments is underway.

Note:** The Payment has been made to 3 CPSUs for decentralized procurements. State wise data is not available  as the payment has been released on lumpsum basis. The state wise reconciliation is being done.

Note:** *BSNL has been given work for 8 States namely Assam, J & K, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim, UP-E, UP-W, & West Bengal . The payment has been released on Lumpsum basis. Hence, data is not available State wise.

Annexure referred to in reply of para (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2889 to be answered on 10th July, 2019 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament Shri Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Shri Hanuman Beniwal, Dr. Nishikant Dubey, Shri Nihal Chand regarding Telecommunication Facilities in Villages.

## State/UT-wise details of the amount of funds utilized and number of towers set up by the Government from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile services in the country during the last three years:

## A. LWE Phase-I Project:

|   S.No. | Name of States   |   Amount Spent in last three years (in Crore) |   Total number of towers located in the State |   Number of tower installed in last three years |
|---------|------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh   |                                         41.73 |                                            62 |                                              23 |
|       2 | Bihar            |                                        146.75 |                                           250 |                                              66 |
|       3 | Chhattisgarh     |                                        352.6  |                                           525 |                                              40 |
|       4 | Jharkhand        |                                        404.79 |                                           816 |                                             284 |
|       5 | Maharashtra      |                                         54.66 |                                            65 |                                               9 |
|       6 | Madhya Pradesh   |                                         18.35 |                                            22 |                                               0 |
|       7 | Odisha           |                                        232.59 |                                           256 |                                             118 |
|       8 | Telangana        |                                         57.1  |                                           173 |                                             119 |
|       9 | Uttar Pradesh    |                                         46.15 |                                            78 |                                               0 |
|      10 | West Bengal      |                                         51.17 |                                            96 |                                              18 |

## B. Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North Eastern Region:

|   S. No. | Eastern Region    |   No. of towers installed (Amount Yet to be released) |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Arunachal Pradesh |                                                    23 |
|        2 | Assam             |                                                   190 |
|        3 | Manipur           |                                                    46 |
|        4 | Mizoram           |                                                    34 |
|        5 | Nagaland          |                                                    35 |
|        6 | Sikkim            |                                                     1 |
|        7 | Tripura           |                                                     1 |

## C. Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Lakshadweep Island:

|   S. No. | Region             |   No. of towers installed (Amount Yet to be released) |
|----------|--------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Lakshadweep Island |                                                    10 |

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