Lok Sabha Question No. 504 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Internet Facilities in Maharashtra Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: HARISHCHANDRA DEORAM CHAVAN, MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.504 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## INTERNET FACILITIES IN MAHARASHTRA VILLAGES

- †504.  SHRI HARISHCHANDRA CHAVAN: SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether remote villages of Maharashtra have no internet facility;
- (b) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) whether  in  remote  villages  where  internet/broadband  facility  is  available,  its service is at very slow speed;
- (d) if so, the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the details of the efforts made by the Government to solve the said problem?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) There are 28.10 rural internet subscribers per 100 population in Maharashtra  as  per  'The  Indian  Telecom  Services  Performance  Indicators'  report  of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) dated 30 th September 2018.The National Digital Communications Policy -2018 has been notified with strategic objectives which inter-alia includes provisioning of Broadband for All.
- (c) & (d) Internet speed depends inter-alia on various parameters such as technology deployed, network coverage, number of simultaneous users accessing the internet,  connectivity  to  the  website  being  accessed.  The  speed  of  mobile  internet  is further dependent on a number of factors such as distance from the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) serving the customer, the number of simultaneous users being served by the BTS, the traffic handled by the BTS etc. As such, the mobile users may experience different speeds at different locations and time of usage.
- (e) Following initiatives/actions  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  towards provisioning and improving broadband/internet services:

- (i) Under  BharatNet,  broadband  connectivity  is  to  be  provided  to  all  the  Gram Panchayats  (GPs),  including    Maharashtra,  where  as  on  27.01.2019,  out  of total 27936 GPs to be  covered, 15,146 GPs have been connected and out of which 15,126 GPs are service ready .
- (ii) As part of BharatNet project, the last mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology to access broadband /internet services is being provided at all the GPs in the country including Maharashtra. Every GP is  being  provided  with,  on  an  average,  5  Access  Points  (APs),  i.e.  2  APs  at Public  places  and  3  APs  at  Government  Institutions  such  as  schools, hospitals, post offices, police stations, etc.
- (iii)  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund  (USOF)  scheme  for  setting  up  of  25,000 public  Wi-Fi  hotspots  using  the  infrastructure  of  telephone  exchanges  of Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  in  rural  areas,  including  3800  in Maharashtra.
- (iv)  The  Cabinet  has  approved  a  proposal  for  providing  mobile  connectivity  in inhabited and uncovered villages at 4072 tower locations identified by Ministry of Home Affairs in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in 10 States in Phase-II which includes including 136 locations in Maharashtra.

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