Lok Sabha Question No. 3625 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-01-02
Subject: Mobile and Landline Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: LAXMAN GILUWA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3625 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 ND  JANUARY, 2019

## MOBILE AND LANDLINE SERVICES

†3625. SHRI LAXMAN GILUWA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the mobile and landline services are not available uniformly across the country and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(b) whether both services are very unsatisfactory particularly in villages and if so, the details thereof and reasons therefor; and

(c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  telecom  infrastructure  in  this regard and the outcome thereof?

## 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  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  Report  for  the  quarter ending 30 th September  2018,  total  number  of  wireless  subscribers  in  the  country  are about 117 Crore, of which rural subscribers are over 52 Crore. Total number of landline subscribers are over 2.2 Crore, of which 31.6 lakh are rural subscribers.

Wireless tele-density in the country has increased from 74.55 in September 2014 to 89.51 in September 2018 and rural wireless tele-density has increased from 44.32 to 58.49  during  this  period.  The  comparative  tele-density  figures  for  various  License Service Areas  (LSAs)  for  September  2014  and  September  2018  are  given  at Annexure-I.

The  difficult  geographical  terrain,  sparsely  populated  villages  with  average population size < 1000, low level of economic activities, insurgency etc. pose technocommercial challenges in making available mobile services on universal basis. Out of total  597618  inhabited  villages  in  the  country,  43088  are  yet  to  be  connected.  State/ Union Territory-wise details of such villages are given at Annexure-II.

(b) The  Quality  of  Services  related  to  network  performance  benchmarks  for  both mobile and landline services are assessed by TRAI for LSA as a whole and data is not available separately for urban and rural areas. As per TRAI Report for quarter ending

September  2018,  most  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  comply  with  prescribed Quality of Service benchmarks for both Mobile and Landline services.

(c) The  Government  is  making  all  efforts  along  with  the  stakeholders  to  provide affordable tele-connectivity to all inhabited areas of the country. TSPs have been using a mix of technologies to provide access to the telecom services throughout the country.

The  Government  has  prioritised  the  provision  of  mobile  services  in  Left  Wing Extremism  affected  areas,  North-Eastern  States  and  Islands  in  the  first  phase.  With support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), following main schemes are under implementation:

- (i) Under BharatNet project, a total of 1,20,224 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected by Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) by laying 3,03,560 Km OFC and installation of equipment has been completed at 1,16,543 GPs, as on 16 th December 2018.

The  OFC-based  connectivity  to  GPs  is  being  further  extended  through deployment of Public Wi Fi Hotspots to provide access of telecom services to multiple users. As on 17 th December 2018, public Wi Fi Hotspots have been installed in 39,370 GPs.

- (ii) Scheme for Mobile Services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas in  10  States  namely,  Andhra  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Chhattisgarh,  Jharkhand, Maharashtra,  Madhya  Pradesh,  Odisha,  Telangana,  Uttar  Pradesh  and West Bengal is being implemented. Under Phase-I of the scheme, 2341 mobile  towers  are  radiating.  The  Government  has  already  approved Phase  II  of  the  Scheme  to  extend  mobile  services  at  4072  locations  in LWE affected areas, as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs.
- (iii) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) is being implemented for  mobile  connectivity  in  North  Eastern  region  (NER)  to  install  6673 mobile towers for 8621 identified  uncovered  villages,  321  mobile  towers for  National  Highways  and  strengthening  of  transmission  network  in  the region.
- (iv) Under  CTDP  for  Andaman  &  Nicobar  Islands,  satellite  bandwidth  has been augmented and submarine cable-based connectivity project is under implementation.  It  is  also  planned  to  set  up  167  additional  towers  to provide  mobile  coverage  in  165  uncovered  villages  and  42  towers  for mobile coverage on entire 129 km of uncovered NH223.
- (v) Similar plans for Lakshadweep Islands are also under implementation.

As a result  of  continuous  efforts  by  the  stakeholders,  about  9.74  lakh  additional Base  Transceiver  Stations  (BTSs)  for  2G/3G/4G-LTE  services  have  been  added  by TSPs since July 2015 taking the total BTS count in the country to about 20.07 lakh in November 2018.

## License Service Area-wise, total tele-density in the country (as on 30 th September 2014 and 30 th September 2018)

|   Sr. | License Service Area                     |   Total Tele- density in September 2014 |   Total Tele- density in September 2018 | Rural Tele- density in September 2018   |
|-------|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
|     1 | Andhra Pradesh                           |                                   81.06 |                                   97.59 | 64.87                                   |
|     2 | Assam                                    |                                   50.41 |                                   64.99 | 44.54                                   |
|     3 | Bihar                                    |                                   47.66 |                                   62    | 44.86                                   |
|     4 | Delhi                                    |                                  232.22 |                                  234.97 | -                                       |
|     5 | Gujarat                                  |                                   93.34 |                                  109.3  | 75.03                                   |
|     6 | Himachal Pradesh                         |                                  109.55 |                                  145.1  | 118.73                                  |
|     7 | Haryana                                  |                                   80.31 |                                   97.73 | 66.83                                   |
|     8 | Jammu & Kashmir                          |                                   69.98 |                                   89.82 | 58.56                                   |
|     9 | Karnataka                                |                                   94.2  |                                  110.63 | 66.06                                   |
|    10 | Kerala                                   |                                   95.96 |                                  124.78 | 77.32                                   |
|    11 | Maharashtra (including Mumbai)           |                                   92.2  |                                  108.25 | 74.43                                   |
|    12 | Madhya Pradesh                           |                                   57.04 |                                   72.23 | 45.08                                   |
|    13 | North-East                               |                                   72    |                                   82.39 | 49.95                                   |
|    14 | Odisha                                   |                                   63.41 |                                   77.02 | 61.61                                   |
|    15 | Punjab                                   |                                  103.49 |                                  125.66 | 81.71                                   |
|    16 | Rajasthan                                |                                   76.18 |                                   88.06 | 62.81                                   |
|    17 | Tamil Nadu (including Chennai)           |                                  114.71 |                                  117.16 | 88.23                                   |
|    18 | Uttar Pradesh (East & West)              |                                   58.09 |                                   70.36 | 48.40                                   |
|    19 | West Bengal (including Kolkata & Sikkim) |                                   73.4  |                                   89.15 | 61.14                                   |

## Count of villages without telecom facilities in respective States/ Union Territories (UTs)

| Sl. No.   | State/UT Name        | No. of inhabited villages as per census 2011   | No. of inhabited villages without telecom facilities   |
|-----------|----------------------|------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman & Nicobar    | 396                                            | 165                                                    |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh       | 16158                                          | 2745                                                   |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh    | 5258                                           | 2215                                                   |
| 4.        | Assam                | 25372                                          | 915                                                    |
| 5.        | Bihar                | 39073                                          | 263                                                    |
| 6.        | Chandigarh           | 5                                              | 0                                                      |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh         | 19567                                          | 3563                                                   |
| 8.        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 65                                             | 0                                                      |
| 9.        | Daman & Diu          | 19                                             | 0                                                      |
| 10.       | Delhi                | 103                                            | 0                                                      |
| 11.       | Goa                  | 320                                            | 47                                                     |
| 12.       | Gujarat              | 17843                                          | 1262                                                   |
| 13.       | Haryana              | 6642                                           | 8                                                      |
| 14.       | Himachal Pradesh     | 17882                                          | 211                                                    |
| 15.       | Jammu & Kashmir      | 6337                                           | 328                                                    |
| 16.       | Jharkhand            | 29492                                          | 1222                                                   |
| 17.       | Karnataka            | 27397                                          | 869                                                    |
| 18.       | Kerala               | 1017                                           | 0                                                      |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep          | 6                                              | 1                                                      |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh       | 51929                                          | 5558                                                   |
| 21.       | Maharashtra          | 40959                                          | 6117                                                   |
| 22.       | Manipur              | 2515                                           | 877                                                    |
| 23.       | Meghalaya            | 6459                                           | 2691                                                   |
| 24.       | Mizoram              | 704                                            | 314                                                    |
| 25.       | Nagaland             | 1400                                           | 328                                                    |
| 26.       | Odisha               | 47677                                          | 9940                                                   |
| 27.       | Punjab               | 12168                                          | 4                                                      |
| 28.       | Puducherry           | 90                                             | 0                                                      |
| 29.       | Rajasthan            | 43264                                          | 1402                                                   |
| 30.       | Sikkim               | 425                                            | 13                                                     |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu           | 15049                                          | 83                                                     |
| 32.       | Telangana            | 10128                                          | 647                                                    |
| 33.       | Tripura              | 863                                            | 16                                                     |
| 34.       | Uttarakhand          | 15745                                          | 552                                                    |
| 35.       | Uttar Pradesh        | 97813                                          | 295                                                    |
| 36.       | West Bengal          | 37478                                          | 437                                                    |
|           | TOTAL                | 5,97,618                                       | 43,088                                                 |

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