Lok Sabha Question No. 5405 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Expansion of Telecom Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: S. Venkatesan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5405 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5 TH  APRIL, 2023

## EXPANSION OF TELECOM SERVICES

## 5405.   SHRI S. VENKATESAN:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the plans made by the Government for expansion of telecom services in rural, backward, tribal areas especially in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu;
- (b) the details of targets set and achieved for providing telecom services during the last three years, State-wise including Tamil Nadu;
- (c) the number of new mobile towers proposed to be installed and having been installed in the districts identified in Tamil Nadu especially in the district of Madurai; and
- (d) the funds allocated/spent by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) to (d) Government is implementing various schemes under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for expansion of telecom connectivity through installation of Mobile Towers in the rural, tribal and remote areas of the country including the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu,  534  villages  are  proposed  to  be  covered  under  USOF  scheme  for  providing  Mobile Connectivity, out of which 26 villages are in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. The major USOF schemes are at Annexure-I .

As per data provided from Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), Department of Telecom field unit and State Government as of March 2022, there are 592 villages of Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. Out of which 565 villages have been covered with mobile connectivity. Details of mobile towers / BTSs installed during last three years in the country and State of Tamil Nadu are attached at Annexure-II .

The details of fund allocated to improve telecom service in the state of Tamil Nadu is as below:

| S.No.   | Scheme name          |   State Outlay (Cr) |   Total villages |   Total sites |
|---------|----------------------|---------------------|------------------|---------------|
| 1       | 4G Saturation Scheme |                 451 |              534 |           420 |
|         | Total                |                 451 |              534 |           420 |

## Annexure-I

Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5405 to be answered on 5 th  April, 2023 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament regarding 'Expansion of Telecom Services'

Details of schemes/projects to improve the communication network/system in rural and remote areas across the country:

- i. USOF 4G Saturation Scheme to cover 24,680 uncovered villages with 4G and 6,279 villages having 2G/3G connectivity are to be upgraded to 4G.  The estimated project cost is Rs. 26,316 Cr.
- ii. Provision of 4G  Mobile  Services in North Eastern Region  of the country under Comprehensive Telecom Development Program for NER. The estimated cost for schemes is Rs. 3637 Cr.
- iii. Hiring  of  10  Gbps  International  Bandwidth  through  BSNL  for  Internet  Connectivity  to Agartala from BSCCL, Bangladesh via Cox Bazar. Approval has been issued for hiring of additional 10 Gbps International Bandwidth also.
- iv. Provision of 4G mobile connectivity in 354 uncovered villages of J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Border area & other priority areas. The estimated project cost is Rs. 337 Cr.
- v. Provision of 4G mobile connectivity in 7,287 Aspirational District villages (Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha). The estimated cost for projects is Rs. 6466 Cr.
- vi. Under  LWE  Phase-I  scheme,  2,343  mobile  towers  have  been  installed  in  LWE  areas. Provision for upgradation of LWE Phase-I from 2G to 4G has also been made. The estimated project cost is Rs. 3567 Cr.
- vii. Under LWE Phase-II scheme, 2,542 mobile towers at Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) identified locations are approved across the LWE States for provision of 4G mobile services. The estimated project cost is Rs. 2211 Cr.
- viii. Scheme for providing 4G mobile connectivity in 502 uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts in four States, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The estimated project cost is Rs. 686 Cr.
- ix. Provision  of  4G  Mobile  Coverage  in  85  uncovered  Villages  and  seamless  4G  Mobile coverage of NH223 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The estimated project cost is Rs. 130 Cr.
- x. Laying of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for providing connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The estimated project cost is Rs. 1224 Cr.
- xi. Submarine  OFC  connectivity  between  Kochi  and  Lakshadweep  Islands.  The  estimated project cost is Rs. 1072 Cr.
- xii. BharatNet project to create network to connect all the Gram Panchayats and villages with broadband  infrastructure.  The  total  funding  of  the  BharatNet  (Phase-I  and  Phase-II), approved by the Cabinet, is Rs 42,068 crores (exclusive of GST, Octroi and local taxes).

Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5405 to be  answered  on  05 th   April,  2023  raised  by  Hon'ble  Member  of  Parliament  regarding 'Expansion of Telecom Services'

Details of mobile towers/ BTSs installed during last three years in the country and State of Tamil Nadu:

| S.No.   | State/UT                                |   No. of BTSs as on 31.12.2020 |   No. of BTSs as on 31.12.2021 |   No. of BTSs as on 31.12.2022 |
|---------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| 1.      | Andaman &Nicobar (UT)                   |                            551 |                            702 |                            830 |
| 2.      | Andhra Pradesh                          |                          80513 |                          80214 |                          84131 |
| 3.      | Arunachal Pradesh                       |                           3785 |                           4064 |                           4440 |
| 4.      | Assam                                   |                          52818 |                          53448 |                          55360 |
| 5.      | Bihar                                   |                          95001 |                         102938 |                         112738 |
| 6.      | Chandigarh (UT)                         |                           3626 |                           3522 |                           3662 |
| 7.      | Chhattisgarh                            |                          39721 |                          43139 |                          44575 |
| 8.      | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu (UT) |                           1652 |                           1666 |                           1638 |
| 9.      | Delhi                                   |                          66400 |                          67787 |                          74796 |
| 10.     | Goa                                     |                           6756 |                           5435 |                           5889 |
| 11.     | Gujarat                                 |                         133392 |                         140066 |                         142531 |
| 12.     | Haryana                                 |                          73699 |                          77863 |                          80796 |
| 13.     | Himachal Pradesh                        |                          23387 |                          24365 |                          25034 |
| 14.     | Jammu &Kashmir                          |                          34573 |                          33218 |                          34516 |
| 15.     | Jharkhand                               |                          41514 |                          46565 |                          49691 |
| 16.     | Karnataka                               |                         145377 |                         147420 |                         153282 |
| 17.     | Kerala                                  |                          89668 |                          92445 |                          96558 |
| 18.     | Ladakh                                  |                            986 |                           1144 |                           1345 |
| 19.     | Lakshadweep (UT)                        |                             62 |                             64 |                             66 |
| 20.     | Madhya Pradesh                          |                         111456 |                         118655 |                         122205 |
| 21.     | Maharashtra                             |                         236383 |                         240985 |                         249264 |
| 22.     | Manipur                                 |                           7451 |                           7274 |                           7615 |
| 23.     | Meghalaya                               |                           6648 |                           6608 |                           7282 |
| 24.     | Mizoram                                 |                           3332 |                           3546 |                           3756 |
| 25.     | Nagaland                                |                           5245 |                           5037 |                           5162 |
| 26.     | Odisha                                  |                          67187 |                          70228 |                          74127 |
| 27.     | Puducherry (UT)                         |                           2622 |                           2529 |                           2541 |
| 28.     | Punjab                                  |                          78450 |                          79025 |                          80792 |
| 29.     | Rajasthan                               |                         122433 |                         126928 |                         133885 |
| 30.     | Sikkim                                  |                           2316 |                           2420 |                           2515 |
| 31.     | Tamil Nādu                              |                         173599 |                         159432 |                         163336 |
| 32.     | Telangana                               |                          88011 |                          86051 |                          92232 |
| 33.     | Tripura                                 |                           7605 |                           7883 |                           8046 |
| 34.     | Uttar Pradesh                           |                         272575 |                         289441 |                         305214 |
| 35.     | Uttarakhand                             |                          27707 |                          29835 |                          30782 |
| 36.     | West Bengal                             |                         149725 |                         148593 |                         160156 |
|         | Total                                   |                        2256226 |                        2310535 |                        2420788 |

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