Lok Sabha Question No. 2196 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-12
Subject: Communication facilities in Remote/Rural Areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATION
Asked by: Smt. Mahima Kumari Mewar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2196 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 TH  MARCH, 2025

## COMMUNICATION FACILITIES IN REMOTE/RURAL AREAS

## †2196.  SMT. MAHIMA KUMARI MEWAR:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes a special plan to completely saturate the far flung rural areas with modern communication facilities across the country including Rajasthan;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the  various  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  prevent  call  drops  and  provide uninterrupted communication facility in remote areas?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) & (b) Digital  Bharat  Nidhi  (DBN)  funds  following  specific  schemes  to  provide  mobile connectivity to the uncovered villages of remote & far flung rural areas of the country including Rajasthan:

|   S.N. | Scheme                                                                           |
|--------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | 4G Saturation                                                                    |
|      2 | 7287 uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts                                |
|      3 | Left Wing Extremism Phase-II                                                     |
|      4 | Left Wing Extremism Phase-I Upgradation                                          |
|      5 | Uncovered villages of Arunachal Pradesh and 2 Districts of Assam                 |
|      6 | Uncovered villages of Meghalaya and along National Highway (NH)                  |
|      7 | 502 uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts                                 |
|      8 | 354 Uncovered Village Scheme                                                     |
|      9 | Mobile services in Lakshadweep Islands                                           |
|     10 | Uncovered villages of Andaman &Nicobar Islands and along National Highway-4 (NH) |

- (c) Following steps have been taken by the Government to facilitate the Telecom Service Providers to address network issues in the country -
- i. Quality of Service (QoS) benchmarks have been revised by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently for various parameters to ensure better quality of telecom services.

TRAI regularly monitors the performance of service providers against the benchmark for various Quality of Service parameters.

- ii. Assignment of sufficient spectrum for mobile services through auction.
- iii. Spectrum sharing, trading and surrender has been permitted for efficient use of spectrum.
- iv. Simplification of Procedure for SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations) clearance.
- v. Notification  of  Telecommunications  Right  of  Way  (RoW)  Rules  and  launch  of  PM GatiShakti Sanchar portal has resulted in streamlining of RoW permissions and expeditious clearance for installation of telecom infrastructure.
- vi. Provision  has  been  made  in  RoW  Rules  for  time-bound  permission  for  usage  of  street furniture for installation of small cells and telecommunication line.

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