Lok Sabha Question No. 4550 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-30
Subject: Policy for Mobile Tower Installation
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sumedhanand Saraswati, Ranjeeta Koli

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4550 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30 TH  MARCH, 2022

## POLICY FOR MOBILE TOWER INSTALLATION

## †4550. SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI: SHRIMATI RANJEETA KOLI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has formulated a policy to install mobile towers for providing telecommunication facility and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  network  problem  in  different  villages  of  the country including Sikar and Bharatpur Parliamentary Constituency;
- (c) if  so,  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  install  mobile  tower  of  BSNL  and  other companies in these areas to address the network issue; and
- (d) if so, the time by which it is proposed to be installed and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (d) Sir, Mobile towers are installed by Telecom Service Provider {including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)}/ Infrastructure Providers to improve coverage and capacity of their network based on techno-commercial assessment, the rollout obligation, etc. However, the Government has set up Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for planning and implementing various schemes to set up mobile towers and provide telecommunication services to people in the rural and remote areas of the country.

As on December 2020, out of 5,97,618 inhabited census villages in the country (as per Census 2011), 5,72,551 villages were having mobile coverage. All 1432 villages of Bharatpur District and 1160 villages out of 1162 villages of Sikar District have been provided with the mobile network coverage. The Government through various schemes/projects under USOF is providing telecommunication services in uncovered villages in the country in a phased manner. Provision has been made to cover one uncovered village of Sikar district under '354 uncovered villages Scheme' of USOF.

A total of 5,321 number of Telecom Towers/ Base Stations have been envisaged under the USOF scheme in the coming financial year (2022-23) in the country.

These  schemes/  projects  through  which  Government  is  providing  mobile  and  internet services in the rural and remote areas of the country are as follows:

- i. Left Wing Extremism Affected Area (Phase-I & II) projects
- ii. Aspirational Districts scheme
- iii. Commissioning  of  Submarine  Optical  Fibre  Cable  connectivity  from  Chennai  to Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- iv. Scheme for connecting submarine Optical Fibre Cable from Kochi to Lakshadweep Islands
- v. BharatNet (Phase-I & II) projects
- vi. Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for mobile connectivity in the North Eastern Region
- vii. Provision of 4G mobile coverage in uncovered villages and provision of seamless 4G mobile  coverage  of  National  Highway-4  (earlier  NH-223)  in  Andaman  &  Nicobar Islands etc.

DoT  has  also  taken  several  policy  initiatives  to  facilitate  infrastructure  growth  for improving telecommunication network. These include notifying Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules,  2016,  permitting  trading/sharing/liberalisation  of  spectrum,  permitting  passive  &  active infrastructure sharing among the TSPs, etc. More than 16.75 lakh additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) for 2G/3G/4G-LTE services have been added by TSPs from March 2014 onwards across the country.

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