Lok Sabha Question No. 467 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Wi-Fi in Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sudhakar Tukaram Shrangre, P.P. Chaudhary, Pratima Bhoumik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 467 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH   NOVEMBER, 2019

## WI-FI IN VILLAGES

467. SHRI SUDHAKAR TUKARAM SHRANGARE: SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY: MS. PRATIMA BHOUMIK:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is planning to provide Wi-Fi in all the villages across the country through GramNet, specially in Maharashtra State;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  number  of  villages  where  the  Government  has  already  provided  the  aforementioned  services, State/UT-wise; and
- (d) whether any private agencies are involved as intermediaries or implementing agencies in the process and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to  (c) Under BharatNet Project (earlier known as National Optical Fibre Network), all the 2,50,000 (approx.)  Gram  Panchayats  of  the  country  are  planned  to  be  provided  with  broadband  connectivity.  As  on 07.11.2019, by laying 3,80,988 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 1,40,668 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected, out of which 1,27,393 GPs have been made Service Ready. In addition, 983 GPs have been made Service Ready on satellite media. 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 the 2.5 lakh GPs in the country. As of now, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed in 45769 GPs (including GPs connected through Satellite media) and out of them, services are being provided in 16,151. In Maharashtra WiFi APs have been installed in 776 GPs, out of which services have been provided in 330 GPs.

The Details of Gram Panchayat where Wi-Fi Services have been provided, State/UT-wise is attached as Annexure-I .

- (d) Wi- Fi hotspots are being provided by CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a SPV under MeitY, Govt. of India and RISL (a PSU of State Government of Rajasthan) under phase I of BharatNet projects.

## Annexure-I

## Annexure referred to in reply of para (a) to (c)  of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 467 to be answered on 20 th November, 2019 regarding Wi-Fi in Villages

|                     | Total                               | Total                            |
|---------------------|-------------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| States              | Installed (GPs) including Satellite | Active (GPs) including Satellite |
| Andaman &Nicobar    | 0                                   | 0                                |
| Arunachal Pradesh   | 142                                 | 142                              |
| Assam               | 4                                   | 0                                |
| Bihar               | 295                                 | 213                              |
| Chandigarh          | 12                                  | 12                               |
| Chhattisgarh        | 517                                 | 435                              |
| Gujarat             | 26                                  | 5                                |
| Himachal Pradesh    | 330                                 | 206                              |
| Haryana             | 1063                                | 712                              |
| Jammu &Kashmir (UT) | 570                                 | 492                              |
| Jharkhand           | 312                                 | 254                              |
| Karnataka           | 2569                                | 1854                             |
| Kerala              | 731                                 | 728                              |
| Leh (UT)            | 169                                 | 160                              |
| Madhya Pradesh      | 1350                                | 828                              |
| Maharashtra         | 776                                 | 330                              |
| Manipur             | 161                                 | 6                                |
| Meghalaya           | 70                                  | 70                               |
| Odisha              | 111                                 | 107                              |
| Puducherry          | 81                                  | 81                               |
| Punjab              | 0                                   | 0                                |
| Rajasthan           | 8813                                | 3964                             |
| Tripura             | 80                                  | 0                                |
| Uttar Pradesh       | 27223                               | 5239                             |
| Uttarakhand         | 353                                 | 311                              |
| West Bengal         | 11                                  | 2                                |
| Grand Total         | 45769                               | 16151                            |

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