Lok Sabha Question No. 679 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-05
Subject: Mobile Services in Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Nishikant  Dubey, Ravi Kishan Shukla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 679 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5 TH  FEBRUARY, 2020

## MOBILE SERVICES IN VILLAGES

## 679. DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY: SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS  be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of villages of the country which have not yet been provided with mobile services so far, State/ UT-wise along with the reasons therefor;
- (b) the extent to which Government has resolved the said reasons through modern technology and instruments; and
- (c) the number of Wi-Fi hotspots that have been installed at Gram Panchayats (GPs) and services are provided therefrom, State/UT-wise?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) As per data collected from the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) field units in 2019, it is estimated that 27,721 villages (as per the Census 2011)  in  the  country  are  not  covered  by  mobile  services.  The  State/Union  Territories-wise  list  of uncovered villages is at Annexure-I. The  reasons  for  not  having  mobile  services  in  these  villages include,  inter-alia,  remote  and  tough  terrain,  areas  diversely  located  with  scattered  population  and commercially  non-viable  operations.  Mobile  coverage  in  the  uncovered  villages  in  the  country  is being provided by the Government and the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in a phased manner. Following projects are approved for providing/facilitating mobile services in these inhabited villages:

- (i) Under Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas Phase-I project, 2355 towers have been installed by Government of India. Under LWE Phase-II project, installation of 2217 mobile towers have been approved for providing mobile connectivity covering the  States  of  Andhra  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Chhattisgarh,  Jharkhand,  Madhya  Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal;
- (ii) Mobile connectivity in 354 villages of uncovered border areas including Ladakh and Kargil Region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other priority areas has also been

approved. The remaining uncovered villages are being covered in a phased manner by the telecom service providers and Government;

- (iii) A Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for mobile connectivity in the North Eastern Region to provide mobile coverage in uncovered villagesalongwith National Highways and to augment transmission network;
- (iv) Under BharatNet project, broadband connectivity in all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country at an estimated cost of Rs. 42,068 crore;
- (v) Laying of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for providing connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
- (vi) Mobile connectivity to  cover uncovered villages  and along  National Highway (NH 223) in Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
- (vii) Mobile  connectivity  has  been  enhanced  in  Lakshadweep  Islands  by  installing  10 mobile towers;
- (viii) Satellite bandwidth augmentation upto 4 Gbps for Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
- (ix) Satellite bandwidth augmentation upto 1.71 Gbps for Lakshadweep Islands.

(c): As of now, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed in 45,769 GPs and out of them, services are being provided in 18,041 GPs. The State/UT wise details of Wi-Fi provided is given in Annexure-II.

## Annexure-I referred to in Part (a) to (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 679 for answer on 05.02.2020

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

| Sl. No.   | State/UT            |   Number of inhabited villages as per census 2011 |   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      |                                              6101 |                                                     5963 |                                                 138 |
| 16.       | Jharkhand           |                                             29492 |                                                    28239 |                                                1253 |
| 17.       | Karnataka           |                                             27397 |                                                    26834 |                                                 563 |
| 18.       | Kerala              |                                              1017 |                                                     1017 |                                                   0 |
| 19.       | Ladakh              |                                               236 |                                                      174 |                                                  62 |
| 20.       | Lakshadweep         |                                                 6 |                                                        5 |                                                   1 |
| 21.       | Madhya Pradesh      |                                             51929 |                                                    48959 |                                                2970 |
| 22.       | Maharashtra         |                                             40959 |                                                    37970 |                                                2989 |
| 23.       | Manipur             |                                              2515 |                                                     1727 |                                                 788 |
| 24.       | Meghalaya           |                                              6459 |                                                     4861 |                                                1598 |
| 25.       | Mizoram             |                                               704 |                                                      434 |                                                 270 |
| 26.       | Nagaland            |                                              1400 |                                                     1131 |                                                 269 |
| 27.       | Odisha              |                                             47677 |                                                    41128 |                                                6549 |
| 28.       | Punjab              |                                             12168 |                                                    12168 |                                                   0 |
| 29.       | Puducherry          |                                                90 |                                                       90 |                                                   0 |
| 30.       | Rajasthan           |                                             43264 |                                                    42494 |                                                 770 |
| 31.       | Sikkim              |                                               425 |                                                      414 |                                                  11 |
| 32.       | Tamil Nadu          |                                             15049 |                                                    15021 |                                                  28 |
| 33.       | Telangana           |                                             10128 |                                                    10018 |                                                 110 |
| 34.       | Tripura             |                                               863 |                                                      855 |                                                   8 |
| 35.       | Uttarakhand         |                                             15745 |                                                    15540 |                                                 205 |
| 36.       | Uttar Pradesh       |                                             97813 |                                                    97394 |                                                 419 |
| 37.       | West Bengal         |                                             37478 |                                                    37421 |                                                  57 |
|           | TOTAL               |                                            597618 |                                                   569897 |                                               27721 |

## Annexure-II

## Annexure-II referred to in Part (c)of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 679 for answer on

## 05.02.2020

## State-wise details of Wi-Fi installed under Bharat Net

|             |                   | Total                 | Total              |
|-------------|-------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| Sr.No.      | State/UT          | Wi-Fi Installed (GPs) | Wi-Fi Active (GPs) |
| 1.          | Arunachal Pradesh | 160                   | 155                |
| 2.          | Andhra Pradesh    | 0                     | 0                  |
| 3.          | Assam             | 0                     | 4                  |
| 4.          | Bihar             | 292                   | 219                |
| 5.          | Chandigarh        | 12                    | 12                 |
| 6.          | Chhattisgarh      | 517                   | 435                |
| 7.          | Gujarat           | 86                    | 65                 |
| 8.          | Himachal Pradesh  | 200                   | 157                |
| 9.          | Haryana           | 1063                  | 712                |
| 10.         | Jammu &Kashmir    | 570                   | 492                |
| 11.         | Jharkhand         | 312                   | 254                |
| 12.         | Karnataka         | 2569                  | 1869               |
| 13.         | Kerala            | 731                   | 728                |
| 14.         | Ladakh            | 170                   | 169                |
| 15.         | Madhya Pradesh    | 1350                  | 826                |
| 16.         | Maharashtra       | 776                   | 437                |
| 17.         | Manipur           | 204                   | 44                 |
| 18.         | Meghalaya         | 70                    | 70                 |
| 19.         | Mizoram           | 60                    | 20                 |
| 20.         | Orissa            | 113                   | 107                |
| 21.         | Puducherry        | 81                    | 81                 |
| 22.         | Punjab            | 0                     | 0                  |
| 23.         | Rajasthan         | 8813                  | 3964               |
| 24.         | Tripura           | 157                   | 77                 |
| 25.         | Uttar Pradesh     | 270950                | 6827               |
| 26.         | Uttarakhand       | 353                   | 315                |
| 27.         | West Bengal       | 11                    | 2                  |
| Grand Total | Grand Total       | 45769 18041           | 45769 18041        |

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