Lok Sabha Question No. 2460 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Call Drop and Poor Mobile Network
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RANJEET RANJAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2460 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## CALL DROP AND POOR MOBILE NETWORK

†2460. SHRIMATI RANJEET RANJAN:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether there is an issue of regular call drop due to poor mobile network in the country and if so, the details thereof including the incidents of call drops reported during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise;

(b) whether Digital India Programme is not proving successful due to poor mobile network and if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and

(c) whether the Government is aware of the pitiable condition of BSNL and is taking any step for its improvement and if so, the details in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a) The  call  drop  in  a  mobile  network  can  happen  due  to  many  reasons  including characteristics of radio propagation for wireless communications, non-availability of sites due to acquisition problems, sealing of sites by local authorities due to fear of Electro-Magnetic Fields (EMF) from mobile radiations etc.

As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Report, Telecom Service Providers are mostly complying with TRAI benchmarks related to call drop rate.

The  number  of  incidents  of  call  drops  reported  through  Centralised  Public  Grievance Redressal  And  Monitoring  System  (CPGRAMS)  to  Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT) from  each  State/  Union  Territory  for  the  last  three  years  and  the  current  year,  up  to  18 th December  2018, are given at Annexure-I.

- (b)      In order to further strengthen mobile network infrastructure and realise vision of Digital India, the following steps have been taken:
- (i) DoT  has  taken  several  policy  initiatives  to  facilitate  infrastructure  growth  for delivery  of  quality  services  such  as  permitting  trading/sharing/  liberalisation  of spectrum, permitting passive & active infrastructure sharing, notification of Right of Way Rules 2016, making available government land/buildings for installation of towers etc.
- (ii) About 9.74 lakh additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) for 2G/3G/4G-LTE services have been added by TSPs since July 2015, taking the total BTS count in the  country  to  about  20.07  lakh  in  November  2018  serving  491 million  internet

subscribers,  with  average  data  usage  of  about  3.2  Giga  Bytes  (GB)  per subscriber per month.

- (iii) Under BharatNet Project, Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid to about 1.22 lakh  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  and  about  1.16  lakh  GPs  have  been  declared 'service-ready' as on 20 th December 2018.

The  OFC-based  connectivity  to  GPs  is  being  further  extended  to  the  villages through  deployment  of  Public  Wi  Fi  Hotspots  to  provide  access  of  telecom services to multiple users. As on 17 th December 2018, public Wi Fi Hotspots has been installed in 39,370 GPs.

- (iv) Regional  connectivity  programs,  through  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund (USOF)  in  North  Eastern  Region  (NER),  Left  Wing  Extremism  (LWE)  affected Areas of the country, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands are under-implementation to boost tele-connectivity.

As a result of these initiatives by the Government and stakeholders, 2G mobile services cover about 97% of population in the country. Similarly, 3G and 4G-LTE mobile service covers about 75 % and 88 % of the population in the country respectively.

- (c) BSNL  complies  to  the  Call-drop  rate  benchmarks,  prescribed  by  TRAI  in  all  License Service Areas except West Bengal for the quarter ending September, 2018.

In order to further improve its mobile services, BSNL has undertaken roll out of Phase VIII.4 of network expansion in which installation of additional 23311 BTS for 2G, 36381 BTS for 3G, and 8407 for 4G services has been planned. As on 31 st October 2018, 15573 BTS for 2G, 20681 for 3G and 380 for 4G services are already functional. Besides, continuous Drive Tests and network optimisation activities are carried out.

State/ Union Territory-wise, total number of consumer complaints received in Public Grievances Cell,  DoT  through  CPGRAMS  against  Call  drop/  improper  Network  coverage  during  the  last three years and the current year are as follows:

| Sr.   | Name of State/ UT           | Received During Year   | Received During Year   | Received During Year   | Received During Year   |
|-------|-----------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
| Sr.   | Name of State/ UT           | 2015                   | 2016                   | 2017                   | 2018 up to 19.12.2018  |
| 1     | Andaman And Nicobar Islands | 6                      | 3                      | 8                      | 4                      |
| 2     | Andhra Pradesh              | 39                     | 56                     | 58                     | 21                     |
| 3     | Arunachal Pradesh           | 5                      | 5                      | 11                     | 2                      |
| 4     | Assam                       | 49                     | 93                     | 93                     | 27                     |
| 5     | Bihar                       | 147                    | 164                    | 331                    | 70                     |
| 6     | Chandigarh                  | 16                     | 139                    | 71                     | 7                      |
| 7     | Chhattisgarh                | 22                     | 27                     | 91                     | 29                     |
| 8     | Dadra and Nagar Haveli      | 1                      | 1                      | 3                      | 0                      |
| 9     | Daman and Diu               | 0                      | 0                      | 0                      | 0                      |
| 10    | Delhi                       | 513                    | 433                    | 628                    | 182                    |
| 11    | Goa                         | 5                      | 9                      | 13                     | 1                      |
| 12    | Gujarat                     | 74                     | 117                    | 197                    | 55                     |
| 13    | Haryana                     | 161                    | 182                    | 230                    | 88                     |
| 14    | Himachal Pradesh            | 15                     | 22                     | 37                     | 8                      |
| 15    | Jammu And Kashmir           | 23                     | 60                     | 113                    | 14                     |
| 16    | Jharkhand                   | 77                     | 114                    | 105                    | 30                     |
| 17    | Karnataka                   | 96                     | 86                     | 146                    | 135                    |
| 18    | Kerala                      | 14                     | 27                     | 42                     | 32                     |
| 19    | Lakshadweep                 | 0                      | 0                      | 0                      | 0                      |
| 20    | Madhya Pradesh              | 93                     | 86                     | 124                    | 21                     |
| 21    | Maharashtra                 | 461                    | 453                    | 513                    | 172                    |
| 22    | Manipur                     | 1                      | 0                      | 1                      | 0                      |
| 23    | Meghalaya                   | 5                      | 7                      | 8                      | 2                      |
| 24    | Mizoram                     | 1                      | 6                      | 5                      | 1                      |
| 25    | Nagaland                    | 0                      | 1                      | 1                      | 0                      |
| 26    | Odisha                      | 110                    | 88                     | 119                    | 71                     |
| 27    | Puducherry                  | 1                      | 8                      | 9                      | 1                      |
| 28    | Punjab                      | 76                     | 80                     | 65                     | 38                     |
| 29    | Rajasthan                   | 127                    | 159                    | 232                    | 87                     |
| 30    | Sikkim                      | 4                      | 2                      | 3                      | 0                      |
| 31    | Tamilnadu                   | 176                    | 156                    | 161                    | 65                     |
| 32    | Telangana                   | 55                     | 96                     | 83                     | 29                     |
| 33    | Tripura                     | 1                      | 10                     | 23                     | 2                      |
| 34    | Uttar Pradesh               | 329                    | 421                    | 654                    | 291                    |
| 35    | Uttarakhand                 | 7                      | 40                     | 75                     | 29                     |
| 36    | West Bengal                 | 184                    | 143                    | 281                    | 106                    |
| Total |                             | 2894                   | 3294                   |                        |                        |
|       |                             |                        |                        | 4534                   | 1620                   |

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