Lok Sabha Question No. 5045 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-24
Subject: Communication System in Bihar
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Pashupati Kumar Paras

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5045 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 TH   JULY, 2019

## COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IN BIHAR

## †5045. SHRI PASHUPATI KUMAR PARAS:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has made any assessment regarding the communication system/network in few districts of Bihar and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the BSNL is providing satisfactory services in all the rural areas of the State and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  tele-communication  services  have  been  provided  in  all  the  rural  areas  of Darbhanga and Hajipur districts;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a) Quality  of  Service  is  monitored  by  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  &  the performance  of  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  is  assessed  against  the  benchmark  for  various Quality of Service parameters laid down by TRAI by way of Quality of Service regulations issued from time to time, through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs). The performance is assessed for the service area as a whole which includes rural, hilly/remote and tribal areas as well. As per the PMR released by TRAI, the telecom services (including mobile and internet services) are by and large satisfactory.

As per latest report of TRAI for the quarter ending  March 2019, all TSPs are  complying with the  TRAI's  benchmarks in  Bihar  LSA  despite  rapid  increase  in  traffic  volume  and  more  stringent benchmarks as detailed at Annexure-I.

(b ) BSNL is providing satisfactory telecom services in 29064 villages by mobile services. Quality of  Service  is  monitored  by  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  &  the  performance  of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) is assessed against the benchmark for various Quality of Service parameters laid down by TRAI by way of Quality of Service regulations issued from time to time,

through  Quarterly  Performance  Monitoring  Reports  (PMRs).  The  performance  is  assessed  for  the License Service Area (LSA) as a whole. As per latest PMR released by TRAI for the Quarter ending march 2019, telecom services provided by BSNL are by and large satisfactory.

(c) to (e ) Yes, as per the report of the TSPs, tele-communication services have been provided in all the villages of Darbhanga and Hajipur districts.

BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner  to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country, including in all districts of Bihar.  Under  this  Project,  6881  GPs  out  of  around  8446  GPs  in  Bihar  state  have  been  connected. 6216 GPs have been made Service Ready as on 04.07.2019.

The status of BharatNet project in Darbhanga and Hajipur districts of Bihar is as follows:

|   S. No. | Name of District   |   Total GPs |   OFC laid GPs |   Service Ready GPs |
|----------|--------------------|-------------|----------------|---------------------|
|        1 | Darbhanga          |         336 |            323 |                 221 |
|        2 | Hajipur            |         305 |            285 |                 282 |

Moreover,  the  Government  has  taken  several  policy  initiatives  to  facilitate  infrastructure growth for delivery of quality telecom services. These include permitting trading/sharing/ liberalization of spectrum, permitting passive & active infrastructure sharing, notification of Right of Way Rules 2016, making available government land/buildings for installations of towers etc.

Annexure referred  to  in  reply  of  para  (a)  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  5045  to  be answered on 24th July, 2019 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament, Shri Pashupati Kumar Paras regarding 'Communication System in Bihar'

## Performance of QoS Parameters for Cellular Mobile Service

| License Service Area   | Telecom Service Provider   | Telecom Service Provider   | BTS Accumulated down-time   | Call Set- up Success Rate   | Traffic Channel Congestion   | Drop Call Rate Spatial Distribution Measure   | Drop Call Rate Temporal Distribution Measure   |
|------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| License Service Area   | Benchmark(s)               | Benchmark(s)               | ≤ 2%                        | ≥ 95%                       | ≤ 2%                         | ≤ 2%                                          | ≤ 3%                                           |
|                        | Airtel                     | Airtel                     | 0.31                        | 97.86                       | 1.29                         | 1.77                                          | 1.88                                           |
|                        | BSNL                       | BSNL                       | 1.89                        | 95.66                       | 0.50                         | 1.89                                          | 2.40                                           |
|                        | RJio                       | RJio                       | 0.13                        | 99.40                       | 0.01                         | 0.57                                          | 0.74                                           |
|                        | TATA                       | TATA                       | 0.23                        | 97.30                       | 0.00                         | 0.00                                          | 0.00                                           |
|                        | VIL                        | Idea                       | 0.58                        | 98.28                       | 1.95                         | 1.55                                          | 2.17                                           |
|                        | VIL                        | Vodafone                   | 0.58                        | 98.28                       | 1.95                         | 1.55                                          | 2.17                                           |

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