Lok Sabha Question No. 682 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Internet Services and Net Neutrality
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: MANSHANKAR NINAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.682 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## INTERNET SERVICES AND NET NEUTRALITY

## †682.   SHRI MANSHANKAR NINAMA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the percentage coverage of internet services in the country at present;
- (b) the  effect  of  net  neutrality  in  increasing  the  internet  coverage  in  the  country  along  with  the details thereof;
- (c) the targets of the Government to increase the said percentage;
- (d) whether any initiative has been taken in this regard; and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  of  the  schemes  prepared  for  the  rural  areas  of  the  country  including Rajasthan; State-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) As per 'The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators' report dated 8 th January, 2019 issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for the period July-September, 2018, there are 42.87 internet subscribers per 100 population in the Country.
- (b) As such, net neutrality is not known to have any direct bearing on the internet coverage in the Country.
- (c) National Digital Communications Policy-2018 , inter-alia, aims at provisioning of broadband for all by 2022.
- (d) & (e) Government  has  allocated  965  MHz  spectrum  through  auction  in  October  2016  to various telecom service providers for access services. Telecom Service Providers are continuously rolling  out  their  networks  using  this  spectrum,  which  is,  inter-alia,  resulting  into  coverage  and penetration of internet services in the Country.

For attaining the vision of Digital India and expanding the internet / broadband services in rural areas, BharatNet (one of the biggest rural telecom projects of the world) is being implemented in a phased manner for providing Broadband infrastructure to all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country including Rajasthan.

As on 27.01.2019, a total of 1,23,489 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected by laying 3,10,097 km underground Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) and 1,16,876 GPs have been made Service Ready. The project is under implementation in remaining GPs. State-wise break-up of service ready Gram Panchayats under BharatNet project is as given at Annexure.

In  Rajasthan,  as  on  27.01.2019,  by  laying  28,027   km Optical  Fibre  Cable;  a  total  of  8,575 GPs have been connected by OFC, of which 8,466 GPs are Service Ready.

Further, as part of this flagship 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. Every GP is being provided with, on an average, 5 Access Points (APs), i.e. 2 APs at Public places & 3 APs at Government Institutions such as school, hospital, post office, police station, etc.

## State-wise Status of BharatNet Project as on 27.01.2019

| Sr. No   | State/Union Territory   |   Service Ready Gram Panchayats (including Block Head Quarters) |
|----------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh          |                                                           12730 |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh       |                                                              43 |
| 3        | Assam                   |                                                            1601 |
| 4        | Andaman & Nicobar       |                                                               0 |
| 5        | Bihar                   |                                                            5869 |
| 6        | Chandigarh              |                                                              13 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh            |                                                            4058 |
| 8        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli    |                                                              21 |
| 9        | Daman & Diu             |                                                              17 |
| 10       | Gujarat                 |                                                            5162 |
| 11       | Haryana                 |                                                            6186 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh        |                                                             226 |
| 13       | Jammu & Kashmir         |                                                             264 |
| 14       | Jharkhand               |                                                            2345 |
| 15       | Karnataka               |                                                            6111 |
| 16       | Kerala                  |                                                            1129 |
| 17       | Lakshadweep             |                                                               0 |
| 18       | Madhya Pradesh          |                                                           12693 |
| 19       | Maharashtra             |                                                           15126 |
| 20       | Manipur                 |                                                             265 |
| 21       | Meghalaya               |                                                             122 |
| 22       | Mizoram                 |                                                              30 |
| 23       | Nagaland                |                                                              88 |
| 24       | Odisha                  |                                                            3501 |
| 25       | Puducherry              |                                                             101 |
| 26       | Punjab                  |                                                            7936 |
| 27       | Rajasthan               |                                                            8466 |
| 28       | Sikkim                  |                                                              14 |
| 29       | Tamil Nadu              |                                                               0 |
| 30       | Telangana               |                                                            2047 |
| 31       | Tripura                 |                                                             527 |
| 32       | Uttar Pradesh           |                                                           28011 |
| 33       | Uttarakhand             |                                                            1508 |
| 34       | West Bengal             |                                                            2123 |
|          | Total                   |                                                          116876 |

************