Lok Sabha Question No. 679 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Mobile Services in Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA, LAXMAN GILUWA, RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY, LAXMI NARAYAN YADAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.679 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## MOBILE SERVICES IN VILLAGES

†679.   SHRI MANSUKHBHAI DHANJIBHAI VASAVA:

SHRI LAXMAN GILUWA:

SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY:

SHRI LAXMI NARAYAN YADAV:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether  telecom  and  mobile  service  has  not  been  made  available  so  far  in  many inhabited villages in the country;

- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;

(c) the  extent  to  which  the  said  problems  have  been  addressed  with  the  help  of  modern technology and equipments;

- (d) the outcomes thereof; and
- (e) the other concrete steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e) According  to  the  data  collected  from  the  telecom  service  providers  in 2018,  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  43088  villages  (as  per  the  Census  2011)  in  the country which are not covered by mobile services. The State/ Union Territories-wise list of uncovered villages is Annexed. The reasons for not having mobile services in these villages  include,  inter-alia,    remote  and  tough  terrain,  areas  diversely  located  with scattered  population,  law  and  order  issues  and  commercially  non-viable  operations. However,  mobile  coverage  in  the  uncovered  villages  is  being  provided  in  a  phased manner.  Following  projects  are  being  implemented  for  providing/facilitating  telecom services in inhabited villages:

(1)  Under  Left  Wing  Extremism  affected  areas  Phase-II  project,  Government  has approved to install 4072 mobile towers for providing mobile connectivity.

(2) A Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for mobile connectivity in the North Eastern Region to install 6673 mobile towers for 8621 identified uncovered villages, 321 mobile towers for National Highways and strengthening of transmission network.

- (3) Andaman & Nicobar Islands:
2. (i)  Submarine  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC)  connectivity  between  Chennai  and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
3. (ii) Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation from 260 Mbps to 2 Gbps
4. (iii) Augmentation of Intra Island OFC network
5. (iv)  Mobile  connectivity  to  cover  uncovered  villages  and  seamless  coverage  on National Highway (NH 223)
- (4) Lakshadweep:
7. (i) Augmentation of Satellite bandwidth from 102 Mbps to 1.71 Gbps
8. (ii) Augmentation of 2G mobile coverage with EDGE Technology

(5) BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity  in  all  the  Gram  Panchayats  (approx  2.5  lakh)  in  the  country.  As  on 27.01.2019, by laying 3,10,097 Km OFC, a total of 1,23,489 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected, of which 1,16,876 Gram Panchayats are service ready.

As  part  of  BharatNet  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. On an average, 5 Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) are  being  provided  at  each  GP;  of  these,  3  APs  will  be  connected  to  Government Institutions such as Police Stations, Schools, Hospitals, and Post Offices, while 2 APs will  be available for public use. So far, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at 39,379 GPs and of these, services are being provided in 12,528 GPs.

## The list of villages without mobile services

| Sl. No.   | State/UT             | No. of inhabited villages without mobile services   |
|-----------|----------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman & Nicobar    | 165                                                 |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh       | 2745                                                |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh    | 2215                                                |
| 4.        | Assam                | 915                                                 |
| 5.        | Bihar                | 263                                                 |
| 6.        | Chandigarh           | 0                                                   |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh         | 3563                                                |
| 8.        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 0                                                   |
| 9.        | Daman & Diu          | 0                                                   |
| 10.       | NCT of Delhi         | 0                                                   |
| 11.       | Goa                  | 47                                                  |
| 12.       | Gujarat              | 1262                                                |
| 13.       | Haryana              | 8                                                   |
| 14.       | Himachal Pradesh     | 211                                                 |
| 15.       | Jammu & Kashmir      | 328                                                 |
| 16.       | Jharkhand            | 1222                                                |
| 17.       | Karnataka            | 869                                                 |
| 18.       | Kerala               | 0                                                   |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep          | 1                                                   |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh       | 5558                                                |
| 21.       | Maharashtra          | 6117                                                |
| 22.       | Manipur              | 877                                                 |
| 23.       | Meghalaya            | 2691                                                |
| 24.       | Mizoram              | 314                                                 |
| 25.       | Nagaland             | 328                                                 |
| 26.       | Odisha               | 9940                                                |
| 27.       | Punjab               | 4                                                   |
| 28.       | Puducherry           | 0                                                   |
| 29.       | Rajasthan            | 1402                                                |
| 30.       | Sikkim               | 13                                                  |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu           | 83                                                  |
| 32.       | Telangana            | 647                                                 |
| 33.       | Tripura              | 16                                                  |
| 34.       | Uttarakhand          | 552                                                 |
| 35.       | Uttar Pradesh        | 295                                                 |
| 36.       | West Bengal          | 437                                                 |
| TOTAL     |                      | 43,088                                              |

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