Lok Sabha Question No. 5651 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-06
Subject: High Speed Broadband
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5651 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  APRIL, 2022

## HIGH SPEED BROADBAND

## 5651.   COL. RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) the  number  of  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  that  have  been  connected  with  high  speed broadband connectivity under BharatNet project as of February 2022, State-wise and districtwise for Rajasthan;

(b) the  details  of  the  WiFi  hotspots  that  have  been  established  in  rural  areas  under  the BharatNet project, State-wise and district-wise for Rajasthan;

(c) the  details  of  services  that  have  been  launched  in  rural  areas  which  can  utilise  this broadband connectivity;

(d) whether the Government conducts awareness and educational drives to ensure citizens in rural areas operate these services and if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether  the  Government  has  sufficient  technically  aware  manpower  in  place  to regularly check and fix such broadband connections in case they are not functioning and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) whether the Government maintains records of complaints/feedback from the customers  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  taken/being  taken  to  address  such issues?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) BharatNet project is implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity  to  all  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  of  the  country.  The  State/UT-wise  details  of Service  Ready  GPs,  and  Wi-Fi  hotspots  installed  by  utilizing  BharatNet  are  given  in Annexure-I . The District-wise details of Service Ready GPs, and Wi-Fi hotspots installed in Rajasthan are given in Annexure-II .

(c) The infrastructure created under BharatNet project is a national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to the Service Providers, and the same can be  utilized to provide broadband services, such as Wi-Fi Hotspots, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, leased lines, dark fibre, backhaul to mobile towers, etc.

As on 28.02.2022, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at 1,04,288 GPs, total 2,13,834 Fibre  to  the  Home  (FTTH)  connections  have  been  provided,  4,038  Gbps  Bandwidth  and 36,333 km dark fibre have been leased out.

(d) The  Government  has  approved  a  scheme  titled  'Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital Saksharta Abhiyan  (PMGDISHA)',  implemented by the Ministry of Electronics  & Information  Technology  (MeitY),  to  usher  in  digital  literacy  in  rural  India  by  covering  6 crore rural households (one person per household). Special focus of the said Scheme is on training  the  beneficiaries  on  use  of  Electronic  Payment  System  and  as  of  now,  4.91  crore persons have been trained.

(e) BharatNet  network  is  monitored  through  centralised  Network  Operating  Centre (NOC) and its reports are monitored on a regular basis. Work of maintenance (i.e. Operations and  Maintenance  of  incremental  OFC  network,  First  Line  Maintenance  of  equipment  and supporting infrastructure) is being carried out presently by CSC e-Governance Services India Limited (a SPV under MeitY, Government of India) in about 1.20 lakh GPs of the BharatNet Phase-I. For the Phase-II of BharatNet, the respective Implementing Agencies are responsible for the maintenance of the network.

The BharatNet infrastructure is utilized by Service Providers for provision of various services  including  broadband/internet  connectivity  in  GPs/rural  areas.  The  Operations  and Maintenance  (O&M)  of  such  network,  created  for  providing  the  services,  is  done  by  the respective Service Providers.

(f) Public Grievances, including the grievances pertaining to Internet/broadband services, are received, monitored, and resolved by the Department of Telecom through a Centralised Public  Grievance  Redressal  and  Monitoring  System  (CPGRAMS).  The  grievances  are forwarded  to  the  concerned  Service  Providers,  Director  General  Telecom  Office  &  its Licensed  Service  Area  Offices,  Bharat  Broadband  Network  Limited  (BBNL)  or  the concerned unit for their redressal.

Annexure referred to in Parts (a) & (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question     No. 5651 for answer on 06.04.2022

## State/UT-wise  details  of  Service  Ready  GPs  and  Wi-Fi  hotspots  installed  under BharatNet

| S. No.   | State/UT                           |   Number of GPs made Service Ready |   Number of Wi-Fi Hotspot installed GPs |
|----------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andaman &Nicobar Islands           |                                 24 |                                       0 |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh                     |                               1716 |                                    1570 |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh                  |                                769 |                                     306 |
| 4        | Assam                              |                               1508 |                                       0 |
| 5        | Bihar                              |                               8302 |                                    5344 |
| 6        | Chandigarh                         |                                 12 |                                      12 |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh                       |                               8856 |                                    3655 |
| 8        | Daman &Diu and Dadra& Nagar Haveli |                                 38 |                                      36 |
| 9        | Goa                                |                                  0 |                                       0 |
| 10       | Gujarat                            |                              14119 |                                    3954 |
| 11       | Haryana                            |                               6082 |                                    5955 |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh                   |                                406 |                                     252 |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir                     |                               1076 |                                     985 |
| 14       | Jharkhand                          |                               4254 |                                    2383 |
| 15       | Karnataka                          |                               6083 |                                    5301 |
| 16       | Kerala                             |                                978 |                                     977 |
| 17       | Ladakh                             |                                190 |                                     172 |
| 18       | Lakshadweep                        |                                  9 |                                       0 |
| 19       | Madhya Pradesh                     |                              17340 |                                   11537 |
| 20       | Maharashtra                        |                              21977 |                                   11014 |
| 21       | Manipur                            |                               1436 |                                     161 |
| 22       | Meghalaya                          |                                651 |                                      70 |
| 23       | Mizoram                            |                                452 |                                       0 |
| 24       | Nagaland                           |                                232 |                                       0 |
| 25       | Odisha                             |                               6617 |                                    2511 |
| 26       | Puducherry                         |                                 98 |                                      81 |
| 27       | Punjab                             |                              12668 |                                    7887 |
| 28       | Rajasthan                          |                               8770 |                                    8078 |
| 29       | Sikkim                             |                                 24 |                                       0 |
| 30       | Tamil Nadu                         |                                  0 |                                       0 |
| 31       | Telangana                          |                               6886 |                                    1995 |
| 32       | Tripura                            |                                723 |                                     574 |
| 33       | Uttar Pradesh                      |                              36090 |                                   26855 |
| 34       | Uttarakhand                        |                               1649 |                                    1251 |
| 35       | West Bengal                        |                               2326 |                                    1372 |
|          | Total                              |                             172361 |                                  104288 |

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Annexure referred to in Parts (a) & (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question      No. 5651 for answer on 06.04.2022

## District-wise details of Service Ready GPs and Wi-Fi hotspots installed in Rajasthan under BharatNet

| S. No.   | District       |   Number of GPs made Service Ready |   Number of Wi-Fi Hotspot installed |
|----------|----------------|------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 1        | Ajmer          |                                282 |                                 268 |
| 2        | Alwar          |                                482 |                                 377 |
| 3        | Banswara       |                                115 |                                 301 |
| 4        | Baran          |                                186 |                                 209 |
| 5        | Barmer         |                                240 |                                  47 |
| 6        | Bharatpur      |                                374 |                                 360 |
| 7        | Bhilwara       |                                384 |                                 373 |
| 8        | Bikaner        |                                290 |                                 118 |
| 9        | Bundi          |                                183 |                                 186 |
| 10       | Chittorgarh    |                                267 |                                 289 |
| 11       | Churu          |                                253 |                                 210 |
| 12       | Dausa          |                                231 |                                 205 |
| 13       | Dholpur        |                                 94 |                                 151 |
| 14       | Dungarpur      |                                121 |                                 245 |
| 15       | Ganganagar     |                                243 |                                 314 |
| 16       | Hanumangarh    |                                251 |                                 231 |
| 17       | Jaipur         |                                532 |                                 447 |
| 18       | Jaisalmer      |                                102 |                                  16 |
| 19       | Jalore         |                                274 |                                 229 |
| 20       | Jhalawar       |                                252 |                                 251 |
| 21       | Jhunjhunu      |                                301 |                                 242 |
| 22       | Jodhpur        |                                432 |                                 311 |
| 23       | Karauli        |                                222 |                                 224 |
| 24       | Kota           |                                156 |                                 158 |
| 25       | Nagaur         |                                466 |                                 365 |
| 26       | Pali           |                                321 |                                 310 |
| 27       | Pratapgarh     |                                110 |                                 151 |
| 28       | Rajsamand      |                                207 |                                 205 |
| 29       | Sawai Madhopur |                                200 |                                 198 |
| 30       | Sikar          |                                343 |                                 291 |
| 31       | Sirohi         |                                162 |                                 142 |
| 32       | Tonk           |                                230 |                                 188 |
| 33       | Udaipur        |                                464 |                                 466 |
|          | Total          |                               8770 |                                8078 |

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