Lok Sabha Question No. 2556 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-04
Subject: Internet Facility in Gram Panchayats
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Girish Bhalchandra Bapat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2556 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH   DECEMBER, 2019

## INTERNET FACILITY IN GRAM PANCHAYATS

## 2556. SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has provided internet facility in Gram Panchayats to extend the benefits of communication and information technology to the people living in rural areas of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of fund released and utilised in this respect during each of the last three years, State/UTwise; and
- (d) the total number of people who were benefited through the facility during the said period, State/UTwise?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) 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.    As  on  22.11.2019,  by  laying  3,85,754  km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 1,42,086 GPs have been connected and of them, 1,28,990  have been made Service Ready. In addition, 983 GPs have been made Service Ready over 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. Towards this end, provisioning of 2 Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) is under implementation in each of the GPs of BharatNet Phase-I. As of now, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at 45,769 GPs and out of them, services are being provided in 16,333 GPs. Further, 33,160 Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections have been provided.

- (c) The State/UT-wise details of funds disbursed under BharatNet Project during each of the last three years are given in Annexure-I.
- (d) The State/Union Territory-wise details are given in Annexure-II.

## Annexure-I

Annexure  referred  to  in  Part  (c)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2556  for  Answer  on 04.12.2019.

## Details of funds disbursed (released/utilised) under BharatNet Project (BBNL)

| S.No.   | State                                               |   Year 16-17 |   Year 17-18 |   Year 18-19 |
|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1       | Andaman &Nicobar                                    |         1.85 |         0.16 |         0    |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh                                      |         0    |        84.8  |       181.21 |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh                                   |        17.68 |        13.97 |         0.6  |
| 4       | Assam                                               |        89.18 |         3.01 |         4.11 |
| 5       | Bihar                                               |       190.1  |        22.54 |        48.37 |
| 6       | Chandigarh                                          |         0    |         0    |         0    |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh                                        |       241.2  |       236.82 |       239.56 |
| 8       | Gujarat, Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman& Diu         |       129.8  |       230.41 |       311.01 |
| 9       | Haryana                                             |        90.66 |       134.66 |         9.47 |
| 10      | Himachal Pradesh                                    |        52.51 |         1.3  |         0.64 |
| 11      | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh                           |        42.38 |         3.64 |        13.78 |
| 12      | Jharkhand                                           |        81.39 |        48.13 |       112.13 |
| 13      | Karnataka                                           |         1.25 |       224.69 |        23.84 |
| 14      | Kerala                                              |        25.96 |         0    |         0    |
| 15      | Lakshadweep                                         |         0    |         0    |         0    |
| 16      | Madhya Pradesh                                      |       451.96 |       190.22 |       153.61 |
| 17      | Maharashtra                                         |       585.19 |       423.56 |       370.11 |
| 18      | Manipur                                             |        18.52 |        14.63 |         3.13 |
| 19      | Meghalaya                                           |        24.75 |        19.55 |         2.08 |
| 20      | Mizoram                                             |        13.21 |        12.35 |         1.69 |
| 21      | Nagaland                                            |        20.36 |        16.09 |        13.7  |
| 22      | Odisha                                              |       115.81 |        46.9  |        77.86 |
| 23      | Puducherry                                          |         2.23 |         0.53 |         0    |
| 24      | Punjab                                              |       236.29 |         0    |        52.64 |
| 25      | Rajasthan                                           |       162.47 |       108.27 |       122.47 |
| 26      | Sikkim                                              |        43.23 |         0.58 |         0    |
| 27      | Tamil Nadu                                          |         0    |       110.64 |         0    |
| 28      | Telangana                                           |         8.24 |       112.28 |         7.43 |
| 29      | Tripura                                             |        20.92 |        16.52 |         3.69 |
| 30      | Uttar Pradesh (East)                                |       423.17 |        10.51 |       126.85 |
| 31      | Uttar Pradesh (West)                                |       212.13 |        67.25 |       116.8  |
| 32      | Uttarakhand                                         |       127.44 |         3.08 |         2.86 |
| 33      | West Bengal                                         |       141.63 |        91.04 |        11.47 |
|         | GPON OFC                                            |       555.45 |       258.42 |         0    |
|         | Advance given to BSNL for UP (E) and Madhya Pradesh |         0    |      2302    |       863    |
|         | Total                                               |      4126.94 |      4808.55 |      2874.09 |

In Crore

Annexure  referred  to  in  Part  (d)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  2556  for  Answer  on 04.12.2019.

## Details of total number of Wi-Fi and FTTH subscribers are as follows:

| S. No.   | State/Union Territory     | No. of active subscribers   | No. of active subscribers   |
|----------|---------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|
| S. No.   | State/Union Territory     | FTTH subscribers            |                             |
| 1        | Andaman &Nicobar          | 0                           | 0                           |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh            | 0                           | 117                         |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh         | 0                           | 0                           |
| 4        | Assam                     | 0                           | 975                         |
| 5        | Bihar                     | 19206                       | 1143                        |
| 6        | Chandigarh                | 43                          | 0                           |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh              | 33866                       | 1218                        |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli       | 0                           | 9                           |
| 9        | Daman &Diu                | 0                           | 9                           |
| 10       | Gujarat                   | 0                           | 1845                        |
| 11       | Haryana                   | 64576                       | 689                         |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh          | 298                         | 64                          |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh | 0                           | 22                          |
| 14       | Jharkhand                 | 32464                       | 1051                        |
| 15       | Karnataka                 | 89492                       | 6787                        |
| 16       | Kerala                    | 51852                       | 1968                        |
| 17       | Lakshadweep               | 0                           | 0                           |
| 18       | Madhya Pradesh            | 101945                      | 640                         |
| 19       | Maharashtra               | 41349                       | 4603                        |
| 20       | Manipur                   | 20                          | 0                           |
| 21       | Meghalaya                 | 0                           | 0                           |
| 22       | Mizoram                   | 0                           | 0                           |
| 23       | Nagaland                  | 0                           | 0                           |
| 24       | Odisha                    | 8116                        | 685                         |
| 25       | Puducherry                | 7004                        | 78                          |
| 26       | Punjab                    | 0                           | 222                         |
| 27       | Rajasthan                 | 0                           | 1881                        |
| 28       | Sikkim                    | 0                           | 0                           |
| 29       | Tamil Nadu                | 0                           | 0                           |
| 30       | Telangana                 | 0                           | 557                         |
| 31       | Tripura                   | 0                           | 22                          |
| 32       | Uttar Pradesh             | 675816                      | 6768                        |
| 33       | Uttarakhand               | 65994                       | 1072                        |
| 34       | West Bengal               | 0                           | 735                         |
|          | Total                     | 1192041                     | 33160                       |

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