Lok Sabha Question No. 458 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-24
Subject: Mobile/Internet Connectivity
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Pinaki Misra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 458 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 TH   JULY, 2019

## MOBILE/INTERNET CONNECTIVITY

## *458. SHRI PINAKI MISRA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  approximately  eleven  thousand  villages  in  the  State  of  Odisha  have  no  mobile connectivity, the highest in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the mobile towers in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas of the State have low  radiating  antennas  with  low  bandwidth  thereby  restricting  the  internet  facility  to  insignificant levels, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (c) the  steps  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  the  mobile/internet connectivity in the villages and the LWE areas of the State and the time by which the said task is likely to be accomplished?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) to (c) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Contd………2/-

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) to  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  *458  FOR  24 TH JULY,  2019  ON 'MOBILE/INTERNET CONNECTIVITY'.

(a) to (c) Mobile/internet connectivity in the uncovered villages and the LWE areas of Odisha are being provided by the Government and telecom service providers in a phased manner. As per data collected from the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in 2018, it was estimated that out of 47,677 inhabited villages (as per the Census 2011) in the State of Odisha, 37,737 villages were covered with mobile services while 9,940 villages were not covered by mobile services. District-wise details are at Annexure. As  per  latest  information  received  from  the  Department  of  Telecommunication's  field unit,  the  number  of  uncovered  villages  have  been  reduced  to  8,776  inhabited  villages.  Under  the BharatNet project in Odisha, by laying 12103 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 3925 Gram Panchayats (GPs) (including Block Head Quarters (BHQs)) have been connected, out of which 3645 GPs (including BHQs)  have been made Service Ready for broadband connectivity. In addition, 15 GPs have been made Service Ready over Satellite media. Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed in 90 GPs in Odisha which are providing services.

Under  the  Left  Wing  Extremism  (LWE)  affected  areas  Phase-I  project,  Ministry  of  Home Affairs (MHA) identified 2343 tower locations for mobile connectivity in 10 States including Odisha, which  have  been  provided  towers.  Out  of  the  256  towers  installed  in  Odisha,  132  towers  were connected  through  Microwave  media,  104  towers  were  connected  through  Very  Small  Aperture Terminal (VSAT) media and 20 towers were connected through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) media. Tower sites with Microwave and OFC media have been connected with 2Mbps or above bandwidth. All  104  towers  VSAT  media which were initially connected with 512  Kbps bandwidth, have now been connected to 2Mbps.

Following projects also are being implemented by the Government for providing/facilitating Mobile/internet connectivity in Odisha:

- (i) Under  LWE Phase-II  project,  the  Government  has  approved  installation  of  252  towers  for providing mobile connectivity.
- (ii) Under  BharatNet  project,  the  Government  has  recently  approved  provisioning  of  2  Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) in all 3811 GPs.

Annexure referred to in reply of para (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 458 to be answered  on  24 th July,  2019  raised  by  Hon'ble  Member  of  Parliament  Shri  Pinaki  Misra regarding Mobile/Internet Connectivity

## District-wise status of mobile services in inhabited villages of Odisha (as in 2018)

| S. No.   | District Name   |   Total No. of inhabited villages (as per Census 2011) |   No. of covered inhabited villages |   No. of uncovered inhabited villages |
|----------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Anugul          |                                                   1654 |                                1427 |                                   227 |
| 2.       | Balangir        |                                                   1751 |                                1598 |                                   153 |
| 3.       | Baleshwar       |                                                   2635 |                                2634 |                                     1 |
| 4.       | Bargarh         |                                                   1179 |                                1130 |                                    49 |
| 5.       | Baudh           |                                                   1117 |                                 756 |                                   361 |
| 6.       | Bhadrak         |                                                   1250 |                                1248 |                                     2 |
| 7.       | Cuttack         |                                                   1856 |                                1822 |                                    34 |
| 8.       | Debagarh        |                                                    718 |                                 506 |                                   212 |
| 9.       | Dhenkanal       |                                                   1081 |                                1013 |                                    68 |
| 10.      | Gajapati        |                                                   1499 |                                 609 |                                   890 |
| 11.      | Ganjam          |                                                   2783 |                                2453 |                                   330 |
| 12.      | Jagatsinghapur  |                                                   1223 |                                1220 |                                     3 |
| 13.      | Jajapur         |                                                   1598 |                                1589 |                                     9 |
| 14.      | Jharsuguda      |                                                    347 |                                 330 |                                    17 |
| 15.      | Kalahandi       |                                                   2116 |                                1383 |                                   733 |
| 16.      | Kandhamal       |                                                   2417 |                                 765 |                                  1652 |
| 17.      | Kendrapara      |                                                   1415 |                                1408 |                                     7 |
| 18.      | Kendujhar       |                                                   2064 |                                1769 |                                   295 |
| 19.      | Khordha         |                                                   1356 |                                1331 |                                    25 |
| 20.      | Koraput         |                                                   1941 |                                 921 |                                  1020 |
| 21.      | Malkangiri      |                                                    995 |                                 394 |                                   601 |
| 22.      | Mayurbhanj      |                                                   3751 |                                3436 |                                   315 |
| 23.      | Nabarangapur    |                                                    868 |                                 727 |                                   141 |
| 24.      | Nayagarh        |                                                   1541 |                                1159 |                                   382 |
| 25.      | Nuapada         |                                                    656 |                                 524 |                                   132 |
| 26.      | Puri            |                                                   1600 |                                1594 |                                     6 |
| 27.      | Rayagada        |                                                   2468 |                                 970 |                                  1498 |
| 28.      | Sambalpur       |                                                   1229 |                                 934 |                                   295 |
| 29.      | Subarnapur      |                                                    856 |                                 769 |                                    87 |
| 30.      | Sundargarh      |                                                   1713 |                                1318 |                                   395 |
|          | Total           |                                                  47677 |                               37737 |                                  9940 |

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