Lok Sabha Question No. 2315 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: BTS in Gujarat and Bihar
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA, RAMA DEVI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2315 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## BTS IN GUJARAT AND BIHAR

- †2315. SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA: SHRIMATI RAMA DEVI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of Base Transreceiver Stations (BTS) functioning at present in Gujarat and Bihar, location-wise;
- (b) whether the said BTS are sufficient as per existing requirement and demands;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to set up new BTS in Gujarat and Bihar in order to increase mobile connectivity in Gujarat and Bihar; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof, location-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The licenses for providing mobile services in the country are granted by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) at License Service Area (LSA) level.  The State of Gujarat is a part of Gujarat LSA which includes Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli as well. Similarly, State of Bihar is a part of Bihar LSA which includes State of Jharkhand.

The data relating to Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) is maintained at LSA-level. The total  number of BTSs installed in Gujarat LSA and Bihar LSA, as on 1 st December 2018, are 125670 and 107305 respectively. By using public web-portal, Tarang Sanchar at https://tarangsanchar.gov.in, any person can find the location of each BTS for a given locality. Since a mobile tower is co-shared by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for installation of BTS, district-wise  count  of  mobile  tower  locations  for  the  States  of  Gujarat  and  Bihar  are  given  at Annexure-I & II respectively.

- (b), (c) & (d) TSPs install additional BTS on a continuous basis as per the changing traffic  and  customer  requirements  in  the  licensed  area.  Accordingly,  during  the  period  from March 2014 to November 2018, 85645 and 73129 additional BTS for 2G/3G/4G-LTE services have been added by TSPs in Gujarat and Bihar LSAs respectively.

Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  has  planned  to  add  7917  BTS  in  Gujarat,  of which 3833 have already been installed. Similarly, 545 BTS have been planned for addition by BSNL in Bihar, of which 200 have already been installed. Besides, private TSPs have planned to further add over 6100 and 8700 BTS in Gujarat and Bihar respectively.

The  Government  has  approved  further  BTS  addition  at  412  locations  in  Bihar,  as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs, under the Scheme for provision of mobile services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas.

District-wise count of mobile tower locations in State of Gujarat where BTS are installed by TSPs is given below:

| Sl. No   | Districts in Gujarat State   |   Count of locations in the District where BTS are installed by TSPs |
|----------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Ahmedabad                    |                                                                 4478 |
| 2        | Amreli                       |                                                                  714 |
| 3        | Anand                        |                                                                  862 |
| 4        | Banas Kantha                 |                                                                 1053 |
| 5        | Bharuch                      |                                                                  939 |
| 6        | Bhavnagar (Botad)            |                                                                 1037 |
| 7        | Chhota Udaipur               |                                                                  123 |
| 8        | Dohad                        |                                                                  411 |
| 9        | Gandhinagar                  |                                                                  863 |
| 10       | Jamnagar (Devbhumi Dwarka)   |                                                                 1166 |
| 11       | Junagadh (Gir Somnath)       |                                                                 1049 |
| 12       | Kheda (Mahisagar)            |                                                                  671 |
| 13       | Kachchh                      |                                                                 1449 |
| 14       | Mahesana                     |                                                                  987 |
| 15       | Narmada                      |                                                                  128 |
| 16       | Navsari                      |                                                                  547 |
| 17       | Panch Mahals (Mahisagar)     |                                                                  530 |
| 18       | Patan                        |                                                                  546 |
| 19       | Porbandar                    |                                                                  253 |
| 20       | Rajkot (Morbi)               |                                                                 2096 |
| 21       | Sabarkantha (Aravalli)       |                                                                  787 |
| 22       | Surat                        |                                                                 3753 |
| 23       | Surendranagar                |                                                                  765 |
| 24       | Tapi                         |                                                                  141 |
| 25       | The Dangs                    |                                                                   23 |
| 26       | Vadodara                     |                                                                 2119 |
| 27       | Valsad                       |                                                                  824 |
| Total    | Total                        |                                                                28314 |

Note:

Names in bracket relate to new names of the districts in Gujarat.

District-wise count of mobile tower locations in State of Bihar where BTS are installed by TSPs is given below:

| Sr.   | Districts in Bihar State   | Count of locations in the District where BTS are installed by TSPs   |
|-------|----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1     | Araria                     | 576                                                                  |
| 2     | Arwal                      | 123                                                                  |
| 3     | Aurangabad                 | 528                                                                  |
| 4     | Banka                      | 407                                                                  |
| 5     | Begusarai                  | 840                                                                  |
| 6     | Bhagalpur                  | 1063                                                                 |
| 7     | Bhojpur                    | 689                                                                  |
| 8     | Buxer                      | 473                                                                  |
| 9     | Darbhanga                  | 869                                                                  |
| 10    | East Champaran             | 1046                                                                 |
| 11    | Gaya                       | 1173                                                                 |
| 12    | Gopalganj                  | 618                                                                  |
| 13    | Jamui                      | 424                                                                  |
| 14    | Jehanabad                  | 232                                                                  |
| 15    | Kaimur                     | 268                                                                  |
| 16    | Katihar                    | 700                                                                  |
| 17    | Khagaria                   | 418                                                                  |
| 18    | Kishanganj                 | 369                                                                  |
| 19    | Lakhisarai                 | 263                                                                  |
| 20    | Madhepura                  | 375                                                                  |
| 21    | Madhubani                  | 913                                                                  |
| 22    | Munger                     | 552                                                                  |
| 23    | Muzaffarpur                | 1277                                                                 |
| 24    | Nalanda                    | 685                                                                  |
| 25    | Nawada                     | 465                                                                  |
| 26    | Patna                      | 3062                                                                 |
| 27    | Purnea                     | 776                                                                  |
| 28    | Rohtas                     | 731                                                                  |
| 29    | Saharsa                    | 473                                                                  |
| 30    | Samastipur                 | 923                                                                  |
| 31    | Saran                      | 919                                                                  |
| 32    | Sheikhpura                 | 145                                                                  |
| 33    | Sheohar                    | 91                                                                   |
| 34    | Sitamarhi                  | 619                                                                  |
| 35    | Siwan                      | 791                                                                  |
| 36    | Supaul                     | 405                                                                  |
| 37    | Vaishali                   | 683                                                                  |
| 38    | West Champaran             | 782                                                                  |
| Total |                            |                                                                      |
|       |                            | 25746                                                                |

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