Lok Sabha Question No. 208 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-15
Subject: BSNL 5G Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, Supriya Sadanand Sule

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15 TH  MARCH, 2023

## BSNL 5G SERVICES

## *208.   DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE: SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether spectrum has been allocated to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) for rolling out its 5G services by August 2023, if so, the details thereof along with the details of the States where 5G services are proposed by BSNL;
- (b) the details of the States in which BSNL has provided 4G services so far;
- (c) the  time  by  which  4G  services  are  likely  to  be  provided  by  the  BSNL  in  the  country particularly in Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands and its remote areas;
- (d) the details of the tele-density of Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands as compared to National tele-density;
- (e) whether the Government has identified uncovered villages in Maharashtra, if so, the details thereof, district-wise;
- (f) whether the Government has prepared any action plan to cover various such villages; and
- (g) if so, the details thereof along with the details of funds allocated, released and utilized for expanding telecom facilities in Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands during each of the last three years and the current year?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (g) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (g) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *208/8 TH  FOR 15 TH  MARCH, 2023 REGARDING BSNL 5G SERVICES.

(a) The spectrum in 600MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands have been kept reserved for BSNL for providing 5G services. The 5G services by BSNL would be provided after roll out of 4G services all over India.

(b) The details of States where BSNL is providing 4G services on limited scale is enclosed as Annexure-I .

(c) In line with Atmanirbhar initiative of the Government, BSNL was directed to deploy Indian core for 4G on the recommendations of Empowered Technology Group (ETG). Accordingly, BSNL floated tender on 22-10-2022 for 1 lakh 4G sites. The bid was opened on 23.11.2022. The evaluation of the bid has been concluded and is under submission for approval of Group of Ministers (GoM). 4G services will be started all over India including Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, within 18-24 months after placing the Purchase Order.

(d) The details of tele-density of Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands as compared to National tele-density, is as below:

| Tele-density of India                    | 84.86%   |
|------------------------------------------|----------|
| Tele-density of Maharashtra              | 101.55%  |
| Tele-density of Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 137.87%  |

(e) Details of District-wise uncovered villages in Maharashtra is attached as Annexure-II .

(f) & (g) Department of Telecommunications has taken up various projects with support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provisioning of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country including Maharashtra.  Further, Union Cabinet on 27.07.2022, approved an USOF funded project for saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country (including Maharashtra). The project will provide 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas across country including the uncovered villages of Maharashtra.

The year-wise details of fund disbursed during 2019-20 to 2022-23 (up to December, 2022) under various USOF Projects for providing Telecom facilities in Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, are as below:

(Rupees in Crore)

| State/ Union Territory    |   F.Y. 2019-20 |   F.Y. 2020- 21 |   F.Y. 2021- 22 |   F.Y. 2022-23 (up to December, 2022) |
|---------------------------|----------------|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------------------------|
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands |         310.28 |          541.64 |           97.02 |                                 23.92 |
| Maharashtra               |         290.51 |         1490.97 |          442.6  |                                459.13 |

## Annexure-I

|   Sl. No. | Name of State/Circle where BSNL is providing 4G services on limited scale   |
|-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Andaman &Nicobar                                                            |
|         2 | Assam                                                                       |
|         3 | Bihar                                                                       |
|         4 | Kolkata Telecom District                                                    |
|         5 | Jharkhand                                                                   |
|         6 | North East (NE1)                                                            |
|         7 | North East (NE2)                                                            |
|         8 | Odisha                                                                      |
|         9 | West Bengal (including Sikkim Circle)                                       |
|        10 | Chhattisgarh                                                                |
|        11 | Gujarat                                                                     |
|        12 | Maharashtra                                                                 |
|        13 | Madhya Pradesh                                                              |
|        14 | Haryana                                                                     |
|        15 | Himachal Pradesh                                                            |
|        16 | Jammu &Kashmir                                                              |
|        17 | Punjab                                                                      |
|        18 | Uttaranchal                                                                 |
|        19 | UP (East)                                                                   |
|        20 | UP (West)                                                                   |
|        21 | Andhra Pradesh                                                              |
|        22 | Chennai Telecom District                                                    |
|        23 | Kerala                                                                      |
|        24 | Karnataka                                                                   |
|        25 | Tamil Nadu                                                                  |
|        26 | Telangana                                                                   |

## Annexure-II

## District-wise details of the uncovered villages in Maharashtra

| Sl. No.   | District Name   |   Total No. of villages |   No. of Uncovered villages |
|-----------|-----------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 1         | Ahmadnagar      |                    1586 |                          97 |
| 2         | Akola           |                     972 |                          17 |
| 3         | Amravati        |                    1981 |                         173 |
| 4         | Aurangabad      |                    1361 |                          14 |
| 5         | Bhandara        |                     885 |                          35 |
| 6         | Bid             |                    1371 |                          22 |
| 7         | Buldana         |                    1438 |                          30 |
| 8         | Chandrapur      |                    1775 |                          79 |
| 9         | Dhule           |                     720 |                          61 |
| 10        | Gadchiroli      |                    1646 |                         795 |
| 11        | Gondiya         |                     934 |                          41 |
| 12        | Hingoli         |                     708 |                           3 |
| 13        | Jalgaon         |                    1524 |                          36 |
| 14        | Jalna           |                     965 |                           3 |
| 15        | Kolhapur        |                    1250 |                          74 |
| 16        | Latur           |                     943 |                           4 |
| 17        | Nagpur          |                    1900 |                         105 |
| 18        | Nanded          |                    1663 |                          78 |
| 19        | Nandurbar       |                     960 |                         218 |
| 20        | Nashik          |                    1928 |                         201 |
| 21        | Osmanabad       |                     739 |                          11 |
| 22        | Palghar         |                     904 |                          87 |
| 23        | Parbhani        |                     843 |                          12 |
| 24        | Pune            |                    1882 |                         130 |
| 25        | Raigarh         |                    2008 |                         203 |
| 26        | Ratnagiri       |                    1538 |                         183 |
| 27        | Sangli          |                     724 |                           8 |
| 28        | Satara          |                    1771 |                         160 |
| 29        | Sindhudurg      |                     746 |                          95 |
| 30        | Solapur         |                    1159 |                          11 |
| 31        | Thane           |                     816 |                          53 |
| 32        | Wardha          |                    1382 |                          25 |
| 33        | Washim          |                     782 |                          13 |
| 34        | Yavatmal        |                    2127 |                          44 |
|           | Total           |                   43931 |                        3121 |

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