Lok Sabha Question No. 2497 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Telephone Exchanges
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE, ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2497 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## TELEPHONE EXCHANGES

## †2497. SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE:

SHRI ARVIND SAWANT:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the existing telephone exchanges in the country as on date State/ UT-wise;
- (b) the number of telephone exchanges existing in rural areas of various States during each of the last three years and the current year State/UT-wise;
- (c) the State-wise and the location-wise details of the telephone exchanges which are not functioning as on date;
- (d) the  State-wise  details  of  the  telephone  exchanges  which  have  been  modernised  and upgraded as on date; and
- (e) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  smooth  functioning  of telephone exchanges and upgradation of the existing exchanges with the latest technique?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) As per information received from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the  details  of  State/UT-wise  existing  Telephone  Exchanges  as  in  September,  2018  and  the number of existing Telephone Exchanges in rural areas of various States during each of the last three years and the current year are given at Annexure-I & Annexure-II respectively.
- (c ) As reported by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), all Telephone Exchanges are functioning properly.
- (d) The State-wise details of telephone exchanges which have been modernized and upgraded as on date by BSNL and MTNL are  at Annexure-III.
- (e)  The  following  steps  are  taken/being  taken  by  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  to upgrade the existing Exchanges: -
- (i) To  improve  quality  of  wire  line  telephone  network,  BSNL  has  planned  for replacement/migration  of  Legacy  Public  Switched  Telephone  Network  (PSTN),  Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) based switches to IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) based Next Generation Network (NGN) class-5 network which supports many services i.e. voice, video and data.
- (ii) With  migration  to  NGN,  customers  will  get  enhanced  Value  Added  Services (VAS) on wire line such as Personalized Ring Back Tone, Broadband VAS, Multi Media Video Conferencing and IP Centrex etc. Next Generation Network is being implemented in phases by BSNL.

## Number of existing Telephone Exchanges as in September, 2018

Annexure-I

| Sl. No.   | Name of State/Union Territory   |   Number of Exchanges of PSUs (BSNL and MTNL) |   Number of Exchanges of Private TSPs |   Grand Total |
|-----------|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------|
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar               |                                            50 |                                     0 |            50 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh                  |                                          1769 |                                     4 |          1773 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh               |                                            92 |                                     0 |            92 |
| 4         | Assam                           |                                           561 |                                     1 |           562 |
| 5         | Bihar                           |                                          1118 |                                     3 |          1121 |
| 6         | Chhattisgarh                    |                                           543 |                                     0 |           543 |
| 7         | Delhi                           |                                           359 |                                    16 |           375 |
| 8         | Goa                             |                                           144 |                                     0 |           144 |
| 9         | Gujarat                         |                                          2299 |                                     5 |          2304 |
| 10        | Haryana                         |                                           985 |                                     3 |           988 |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh                |                                           690 |                                     3 |           693 |
| 12        | Jammu & Kashmir                 |                                           301 |                                     0 |           301 |
| 13        | Jharkhand                       |                                           474 |                                     1 |           475 |
| 14        | Karnataka                       |                                          2779 |                                     8 |          2787 |
| 15        | Kerala                          |                                          1402 |                                     3 |          1405 |
| 16        | Madhya Pradesh                  |                                          2429 |                                    12 |          2441 |
| 17        | Maharashtra including Mumbai    |                                          4482 |                                    20 |          4502 |
| 18        | Manipur                         |                                            43 |                                     0 |            43 |
| 19        | Meghalaya                       |                                            49 |                                     0 |            49 |
| 20        | Mizoram                         |                                            57 |                                     0 |            57 |
| 21        | Nagaland                        |                                            61 |                                     0 |            61 |
| 22        | Odisha                          |                                          1077 |                                     3 |          1080 |
| 23        | Punjab                          |                                          1442 |                                     7 |          1449 |
| 24        | Rajasthan                       |                                          1973 |                                     4 |          1977 |
| 25        | Sikkim                          |                                            48 |                                     0 |            48 |
| 26        | Tamil Nadu                      |                                          2323 |                                     7 |          2330 |
| 27        | Telangana                       |                                          1258 |                                     1 |          1259 |
| 28        | Tripura                         |                                            86 |                                     0 |            86 |
| 29        | Uttar Pradesh                   |                                          3066 |                                    11 |          3077 |
| 30        | Uttarakhand                     |                                           418 |                                     0 |           418 |
| 31        | West Bengal                     |                                          1756 |                                    15 |          1771 |
|           | Grand Total                     |                                         34134 |                                   127 |         34261 |

## Number of Telephone Exchanges in rural areas

| Sl. No.   | Name of State/Union Territory   | Number of Telephone Exchanges existing in rural areas   | Number of Telephone Exchanges existing in rural areas   | Number of Telephone Exchanges existing in rural areas   | Number of Telephone Exchanges existing in rural areas   |
|-----------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| Sl. No.   | Name of State/Union Territory   | December 2015                                           | December 2016                                           | December 2017                                           | September 2018                                          |
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar               | 44                                                      | 44                                                      | 44                                                      | 44                                                      |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh                  | 2,567                                                   | 2511                                                    | 2489                                                    | 1479                                                    |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh               | 0                                                       | 129                                                     | 128                                                     | 66                                                      |
| 4         | Assam                           | 407                                                     | 400                                                     | 399                                                     | 386                                                     |
| 5         | Bihar                           | 959                                                     | 963                                                     | 962                                                     | 903                                                     |
| 6         | Chhatisgarh                     | 335                                                     | 357                                                     | 351                                                     | 334                                                     |
| 7         | Delhi                           | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       |
| 8         | Goa                             | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 80                                                      |
| 9         | Gujarat                         | 1,900                                                   | 1879                                                    | 1844                                                    | 1745                                                    |
| 10        | Haryana                         | 794                                                     | 796                                                     | 783                                                     | 746                                                     |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh                | 966                                                     | 946                                                     | 863                                                     | 613                                                     |
| 12        | Jammu & Kashmir                 | 225                                                     | 205                                                     | 195                                                     | 190                                                     |
| 13        | Jharkhand                       | 293                                                     | 293                                                     | 293                                                     | 293                                                     |
| 14        | Karnataka                       | 2,205                                                   | 2199                                                    | 2180                                                    | 2102                                                    |
| 15        | Kerala                          | 942                                                     | 1049                                                    | 1050                                                    | 1132                                                    |
| 16        | Madhya Pradesh                  | 1,791                                                   | 1793                                                    | 1790                                                    | 1748                                                    |
| 17        | Maharashtra                     | 3,888                                                   | 3831                                                    | 3754                                                    | 3563                                                    |
| 18        | Manipur                         | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 25                                                      |
| 19        | Meghalaya                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 29                                                      |
| 20        | Mizoram                         | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 138                                                     | 30                                                      |
| 21        | Mumbai                          | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       |
| 22        | Nagaland                        | 0                                                       | 142                                                     | 0                                                       | 41                                                      |
| 23        | Odisha                          | 813                                                     | 811                                                     | 811                                                     | 803                                                     |
| 24        | Punjab                          | 1,108                                                   | 1194                                                    | 1178                                                    | 1151                                                    |
| 25        | Rajasthan                       | 1,576                                                   | 1671                                                    | 1617                                                    | 1571                                                    |
| 26        | Sikkim                          | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 34                                                      |
| 27        | Tamil Nadu                      | 1,268                                                   | 1277                                                    | 1282                                                    | 1278                                                    |
| 28        | Telangana                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 949                                                     |
| 29        | Tripura                         | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 55                                                      |
| 30        | Uttar Pradesh                   | 2,049                                                   | 2044                                                    | 2028                                                    | 2014                                                    |
| 31        | Uttarakhand                     | 315                                                     | 315                                                     | 300                                                     | 292                                                     |
| 32        | West Bengal                     | 1,127                                                   | 1128                                                    | 1119                                                    | 1076                                                    |
|           | Total                           | 25,572                                                  | 25,977                                                  | 25,598                                                  | 24,772                                                  |

## Annexure-II

Number of Telephone Exchanges modernized and upgraded as on date:

| Sl. No.   | Name of State/Union Territory   |   Telephone Exchange modernised by PSUs (BSNL and MTNL) |
|-----------|---------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman and Nicobar Islands     |                                                       0 |
| 2         | Andra Pradesh                   |                                                      66 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh               |                                                       0 |
| 4         | Assam                           |                                                      14 |
| 5         | Bihar                           |                                                      14 |
| 6         | Chhattisgarh                    |                                                      14 |
| 7         | Delhi                           |                                                     352 |
| 8         | Goa                             |                                                      12 |
| 9         | Gujarat                         |                                                     100 |
| 10        | Haryana                         |                                                      32 |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh                |                                                      12 |
| 12        | Jammu and Kashmir               |                                                       2 |
| 13        | Jharkhand                       |                                                       2 |
| 14        | Karnataka                       |                                                      10 |
| 15        | Kerala                          |                                                     120 |
| 16        | Madhya Pradesh                  |                                                     122 |
| 17        | Maharashtra                     |                                                      21 |
| 18        | Manipur                         |                                                       0 |
| 19        | Meghalaya                       |                                                       1 |
| 20        | Mizoram                         |                                                       1 |
| 21        | Mumbai                          |                                                     276 |
| 22        | Nagaland                        |                                                       2 |
| 23        | Odisha                          |                                                      19 |
| 24        | Punjab                          |                                                      11 |
| 25        | Rajasthan                       |                                                      51 |
| 26        | Sikkim                          |                                                       0 |
| 27        | Tamil Nadu                      |                                                     129 |
| 28        | Telagana                        |                                                      63 |
| 29        | Tripura                         |                                                       4 |
| 30        | Uttar Pradesh                   |                                                     170 |
| 31        | Uttarakhand                     |                                                       9 |
| 32        | West Bengal                     |                                                      16 |
| Total     | Total                           |                                                    1645 |

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