Lok Sabha Question No. 437 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-12
Subject: Services Provided by Telephone/ Mobile Operators
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 437 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 th   DECEMBER, 2018

## SERVICES PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE/ MOBILE OPERATORS

- †437. SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  reviewed  the  services  being  provided  to  the customers  by  the  telephone/mobile  operators  of  private  and  public  sectors  and  the capacity expansion made in mobile/ telephone sectors by each of the said companies in the country;
- (b) whether the Government has collected the details of funds allocated and spent for the expansion of telephone/ mobile and internet connection in the country during the last three years and the current year, State-wise and Union territory-wise; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT)  has  been  interacting  with  Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and reviewing the progress of their action-plans for addressing call drops in their mobile networks on continuous basis.

DoT  has  taken  several  policy  initiatives  to  facilitate  infrastructure  growth  for delivery  of  quality  services.  These  include  permitting  trading/sharing/  liberalisation  of spectrum already granted, permitting passive & active infrastructure-sharing, Notification of Right of Way Rules- 2016, making available government land/buildings for installations of towers etc.

- About 9.74 lakh additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) for 2G/3G/4G-LTE services  have  been  added  by  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  since  July,  2015 across the country. The number of BTS installed has been significantly increased from about 7.94 lakh in March 2014 to about 20.07 lakh in November 2018.
- (b) to (c) The details of subsidy disbursed from Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) for expansion of telephone/mobile and internet connection in the country during the  last  three  years  and  the  current  year,  State-wise  and  Union  Territory-wise  are mentioned in Annexure-I.

## Annexure-I

## State-wise subsidy disbursed during last three years and current year

(Rs. in Crore)

|   Sr. | Name of States/CCAs       | 2015-16   | 2016-17   | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (up to October)   |
|-------|---------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------------------------|
|     1 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 8.11      |           |           |                           |
|     2 | Andhra Pradesh            | 1.33      | 0.66      | 6.85      | 3.84                      |
|     3 | Assam                     | 0.55      | 0.71      | 0.50      | 0.99                      |
|     4 | Bihar                     | 2.58      | 0.88      | 53.35     | 18.05                     |
|     5 | Chattisgarh               | 0.37      |           | 118.64    | 22.90                     |
|     6 | Delhi                     |           |           | 0.04      |                           |
|     7 | DoT Headquaters*          | 3032.15   | 7171.03   | 6516.45   | 1674.83                   |
|     8 | Gujarat                   |           |           | 0.54      |                           |
|     9 | Haryana                   | 1.82      | 2.56      | 0.21      | 0.42                      |
|    10 | Himachal Pradesh          | 0.30      | 0.16      | 0.02      | 0.02                      |
|    11 | Jammu & Kashmir           | 0.52      | 1.97      | 0.12      | 0.02                      |
|    12 | Jharkhand                 | 0.16      | 0.64      | 168.32    | 53.56                     |
|    13 | Karnataka                 | 4.17      | 0.67      | 9.10      | 0.01                      |
|    14 | Kerala                    | 1.32      | 6.22      | 0.76      | 0.02                      |
|    15 | Maharashtra               | 14.10     |           | 12.20     | 2.46                      |
|    16 | Madhya Pradesh            | 12.58     | 1.88      | 4.40      | 1.89                      |
|    17 | North-East-I **           | 6.74      | 15.00     | 0.33      |                           |
|    18 | North-East- II ***        | 2.04      | 14.26     | 0.05      | 0.01                      |
|    19 | Odisha                    | 1.58      | 4.03      | 40.64     | 16.87                     |
|   209 | Punjab                    | 6.56      | 2.44      | 0.66      |                           |
|    21 | Rajasthan                 |           | 1.65      | 0.45      | 3.52                      |
|    22 | Telangana                 |           |           | 15.49     | 8.07                      |
|    23 | Tamil Nadu                | 0.01      |           |           | 91.98                     |
|    24 | Uttar Pradesh (East)      | 0.77      | 1.09      | 26.93     | 3.44                      |
|    25 | Uttar Pradesh (West)      | 0.29      | 0.27      | 0.33      | 0.06                      |
|    26 | Uttaranchal               | 0.19      |           | 0.21      | 0                         |
|    27 | West Bengal               | 1.76      | 0.92      | 22.16     | 7.38                      |

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