Lok Sabha Question No. 2266 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-04
Subject: Consumers of BSNL and MTNL
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Vijay Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2266 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  MARCH, 2020

## CONSUMERS OF BSNL AND MTNL

## †2266. SHRI VIJAY KUMAR:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  the  consumers  of  mobile  phones  in  rural  and  urban  areas  of  Mahanagar Telephone  Nigam  Limited  (MTNL)  and  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  separately  as  on date, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to enable these companies to compete with their private counterparts;
- (c) whether some areas in the country do not have telephone and mobile services;
- (d) if so, the details of such areas and the action taken by the Government to provide telephone and mobile connectivity in the said areas; and
- (e) the funds earmarked and spent for providing telecommunication facilities in the said areas and the role played/likely to be played by the private companies in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a) Circle/Licensed Service Area wise detail of consumers of mobile phones in rural and urban areas of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) separately as on date is at Annexure-I.
- (b) The  Cabinet  in  the  meeting  held  on  23.10.2019  approved  the  revival  plan  for  BSNL  and MTNL. The revival plan inter-alia, includes the measures to reduce the Staff cost through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for the employees of age 50 years and above, administrative allotment of spectrum to BSNL and MTNL for providing 4G services, monetisation of assets of BSNL/MTNL, debt  restructuring  by  raising  of  sovereign  guarantee  bonds  and  in-principle  approval  for  merger  of BSNL  &  MTNL.    With  implementation  of  these  revival  measure,  it  is  expected  that  BSNL  and MTNL will become competitive and start earning profits in coming years.

(c) to (e) As  on  31.12.2019,  it  is  estimated  that  27,721  villages  (as  per  census  2011)  in  the country are not covered by mobile services.  State/Union Territories-wise list of uncovered villages is at Annexure-II.

Mobile  coverage  in  the  uncovered  villages  in  the  country  is  being  provided  by  the Government and TSPs in a phased manner.

Further,  following  schemes  funded  by  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund  are  in  progress  to provide mobile coverage in the uncovered villages in the country:

-  Provision of mobile services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas: Under phase-I of  the  project,  as  on  date  out  of  2355  identified  locations,  2343  mobile  towers  are  radiating. Under phase-II of the project, 2217 tower locations have been identified with an estimated cost of Rs.3215 crore (excluding taxes) to provide mobile connectivity in the LWE affected areas in 10 states.
-  354 Uncovered Villages Scheme: To provide mobile connectivity in 354 villages of uncovered border areas, Ladakh and Kargil region and other priority areas.
-  Aspirational  District  scheme: A  scheme for provisioning of 4G based mobile service in 502 uncovered  villages  of  aspirational  districts  of  Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Madhya  Pradesh  and Rajasthan with an estimated cost of Rs.687 crore has been approved by Digital Communication Commission (DCC) on 20.12.2019.

## Annexure referred to in Part-(a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.2266 for Answer on 04.03.2020.

Circle/Licensed Service Area-wise details of subscribers of BSNL and MTNL.

| S.   | Circle/ Licensed     | Service   | Mobile consumers as on 31.12.2019   | Mobile consumers as on 31.12.2019   | Mobile consumers as on 31.12.2019   |
|------|----------------------|-----------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| No.  | Area                 |           | In Rural Area                       | In Urban Area                       | Total                               |
|      | BSNL                 |           |                                     |                                     |                                     |
| 1    | Andaman &Nicobar     |           | 89,671                              | 1,34,506                            | 2,24,177                            |
| 2    | Andhra Pradesh       |           | 36,88,713                           | 30,98,042                           | 67,86,755                           |
| 3    | Assam                |           | 9,87,102                            | 17,56,210                           | 27,43,312                           |
| 4    | Bihar                |           | 14,59,629                           | 23,66,781                           | 38,26,410                           |
| 5    | Chhattisgarh         |           | 7,63,221                            | 13,69,928                           | 21,33,149                           |
| 6    | Gujarat              |           | 21,29,746                           | 39,55,262                           | 60,85,008                           |
| 7    | Haryana              |           | 5,53,828                            | 44,02,408                           | 49,56,236                           |
| 8    | Himachal Pradesh     |           | 20,61,601                           | 8,95,394                            | 29,56,995                           |
| 9    | Jammu &Kashmir       |           | 1,20,494                            | 11,44,494                           | 12,64,988                           |
| 10   | Jharkhand            |           | 4,16,448                            | 10,67,470                           | 14,83,918                           |
| 11   | Karnataka            |           | 20,02,710                           | 53,21,738                           | 73,24,448                           |
| 12   | Kerala               |           | 45,91,632                           | 63,45,122                           | 1,09,36,754                         |
| 13   | Madhya Pradesh       |           | 14,63,773                           | 27,18,433                           | 41,82,206                           |
| 14   | Maharashtra          |           | 26,95,251                           | 43,94,218                           | 70,89,469                           |
| 15   | North East-I         |           | 89,388                              | 8,58,133                            | 9,47,521                            |
| 16   | North East-II        |           | 1,55,778                            | 3,63,483                            | 5,19,261                            |
| 17   | Odisha               |           | 30,11,931                           | 30,11,817                           | 60,23,748                           |
| 18   | Punjab               |           | 5,66,802                            | 51,56,671                           | 57,23,473                           |
| 19   | Rajasthan            |           | 21,17,203                           | 40,25,259                           | 61,42,462                           |
| 20   | Tamil Nadu           |           | 5,64,621                            | 94,59,415                           | 1,00,24,036                         |
| 21   | Telangana            |           | 17,00,186                           | 14,27,662                           | 31,27,848                           |
| 22   | Uttarakhand          |           | 6,07,513                            | 9,11,273                            | 15,18,786                           |
| 23   | Uttar Pradesh (East) |           | 33,32,304                           | 83,21,817                           | 1,16,54,121                         |
| 24   | Uttar Pradesh (West) |           | 10,25,921                           | 33,97,182                           | 44,23,103                           |
| 25   | West Bengal          |           | 9,53,397                            | 9,05,079                            | 18,58,476                           |
| 26   | Kolkata TD           |           | 0                                   | 18,56,511                           | 18,56,511                           |
| 27   | Chennai              |           | 2,82,026                            | 20,64,388                           | 23,46,414                           |
|      | Total (BSNL)         |           | 3,74,30,889                         | 8,07,28,696                         | 11,81,59,585                        |
| MTNL | MTNL                 |           |                                     |                                     |                                     |
| 1    | Delhi                |           | 0                                   | 21,84,561                           | 21,84,561                           |
| 2    | Mumbai               |           | 0                                   | 11,86,107                           | 11,86,107                           |
|      | Total (MTNL)         |           | 0                                   | 33,70,668                           | 33,70,668                           |

Annexure-II Annexure  referred  to  in  Part-(c)  to  (e)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.2266  for Answer on 04.03.2020.

## State/ UT wise list of villages regarding coverage of mobile services

| Sl. No.   | State/UT            |   Number of inhabited villages |   No. of inhabited villages covered with mobile services |   No. of inhabited villages without mobile services |
|-----------|---------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman &Nicobar    |                            396 |                                                      239 |                                                 157 |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh      |                          16158 |                                                    14063 |                                                2095 |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh   |                           5258 |                                                     3454 |                                                1804 |
| 4.        | Assam               |                          25372 |                                                    24162 |                                                1210 |
| 5.        | Bihar               |                          39073 |                                                    38807 |                                                 266 |
| 6.        | Chandigarh          |                              5 |                                                        5 |                                                   0 |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh        |                          19567 |                                                    17317 |                                                2250 |
| 8.        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli |                             65 |                                                       65 |                                                   0 |
| 9.        | Daman &Diu          |                             19 |                                                       19 |                                                   0 |
| 10.       | NCT of Delhi        |                            103 |                                                      103 |                                                   0 |
| 11.       | Goa                 |                            320 |                                                      297 |                                                  23 |
| 12.       | Gujarat             |                          17843 |                                                    17152 |                                                 691 |
| 13.       | Haryana             |                           6642 |                                                     6641 |                                                   1 |
| 14.       | Himachal Pradesh    |                          17882 |                                                    17716 |                                                 166 |
| 15.       | Jammu &Kashmir      |                           6337 |                                                     6137 |                                                 200 |
| 16.       | Jharkhand           |                          29492 |                                                    28239 |                                                1253 |
| 17.       | Karnataka           |                          27397 |                                                    26834 |                                                 563 |
| 18.       | Kerala              |                           1017 |                                                     1017 |                                                   0 |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep         |                              6 |                                                        5 |                                                   1 |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh      |                          51929 |                                                    48959 |                                                2970 |
| 21.       | Maharashtra         |                          40959 |                                                    37970 |                                                2989 |
| 22.       | Manipur             |                           2515 |                                                     1727 |                                                 788 |
| 23.       | Meghalaya           |                           6459 |                                                     4861 |                                                1598 |
| 24.       | Mizoram             |                            704 |                                                      434 |                                                 270 |
| 25.       | Nagaland            |                           1400 |                                                     1131 |                                                 269 |
| 26.       | Odisha              |                          47677 |                                                    41128 |                                                6549 |
| 27.       | Punjab              |                          12168 |                                                    12168 |                                                   0 |
| 28.       | Puducherry          |                             90 |                                                       90 |                                                   0 |
| 29.       | Rajasthan           |                          43264 |                                                    42494 |                                                 770 |
| 30.       | Sikkim              |                            425 |                                                      414 |                                                  11 |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu          |                          15049 |                                                    15021 |                                                  28 |
| 32.       | Telangana           |                          10128 |                                                    10018 |                                                 110 |
| 33.       | Tripura             |                            863 |                                                      855 |                                                   8 |
| 34.       | Uttarakhand         |                          15745 |                                                    15540 |                                                 205 |
| 35.       | Uttar Pradesh       |                          97813 |                                                    97394 |                                                 419 |
| 36.       | West Bengal         |                          37478 |                                                    37421 |                                                  57 |
|           | TOTAL               |                         597618 |                                                   569897 |                                               27721 |

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