Lok Sabha Question No. 4510 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-20
Subject: Mobile or Telephone Connections to Households
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, Shri Eatala Rajender, Smt. D K Aruna

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4510

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 20 .08.2025

## MOBILE OR TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS TO HOUSEHOLDS

## 4510.  SHRI CHAMALA KIRAN KUMAR REDDY: SMT. D K ARUNA: SHRI EATALA RAJENDER:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a) whether according to the CAMS and other reports, 94.2 per cent of rural households and 97.1 per cent of urban households have mobile or telephone connections in their households and when the Government look at people aged 15 years and above, 92.4 per cent in urban areas and 83.9 per cent in rural areas can use mobile phones, however, a deeper look at the data shows that the use of mobile phones is not as universal and if so, the details thereof; and

- (b) the details of steps taken by the Government, results yielded till now along with the funds sanctioned and spent thereon, State-wise particularly Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a): The National Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, conducted the Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey (CAMS) during July 2022 -June 2023. The CAMS 2022 -23 indicates that approximately 94.2% of rural and 97.1% of urban households possessed mobile or telephone connections. Among persons aged 15 years and above, about 83.9% in rural areas and 92.4% in urban areas reported the ability to use mobile phones. Further, 82.3% in rural and 91.7% in urban areas reported using a mobile telephone with an active SIM card during the three months preceding the date of the survey, at the all-India level.

Further, the Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom (CMS:T) was conducted by the National Statistics Office during January -March 2025. Findings from the CMS:T show that about 94.5% of rural households and 96.7% of urban households possessed mobile or telephone connections. While the ability to use mobile phones by individuals was not compiled in CMS:T report, the percentage of persons aged 15 years and above who reported use of mobile phone during the last three months preceding the date of the survey was about 82.9% in rural areas and 91.0% in urban areas.

The age group of 15 years and above covers the entire adult population. Within this broad segment, the younger cohort aged 15 -24 years has shown an increase in mobile phone usage between 2022 -23 and 2025.

| Use of mobile phone during last three months preceding the date of survey in the age group 15-24 years   | Use of mobile phone during last three months preceding the date of survey in the age group 15-24 years   | Use of mobile phone during last three months preceding the date of survey in the age group 15-24 years   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Survey                                                                                                   | Rural                                                                                                    | Urban                                                                                                    |
| CAMS, 2022-23                                                                                            | 92.6                                                                                                     | 95.3                                                                                                     |
| CMS: T, 2025                                                                                             | 96.9                                                                                                     | 97.3                                                                                                     |

(b): To improve telecom services in commercially unviable rural and remote areas of the country and to provide mobile services in uncovered villages, Government  has taken a number of projects and initiatives. Details of these Government funded  major projects are as follows:

- (i) BharatNet  project  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  to  provide  broadband connectivity to Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. The connectivity to remaining nonGP villages is proposed to be provided on demand basis from their respective GPs. As on June-2025; 13,01,193 Fibre to The Home (FTTH) connections have been provided under BharatNet project in the country.
- (ii) For provision of high-speed internet/ data and mobile services in uncovered remote & rural areas of the country, various targeted mobile projects have been implemented. Under 4G Saturation  and  other  mobile  projects,  till  June-2025,  21,748  mobile  towers  have  been commissioned in the country.
- (iii) For  providing  high  speed  internet/  data  connectivity  to  Andaman  &  Nicobar  and Lakshadweep Islands, submarine optical fibre cable (OFC) projects between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (2312 Km) and between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (1869 km) have been commissioned on 10.08.2020 and 03.01.2024 respectively. These optical fibre cable projects have facilitated faster roll out of mobile services (4G/5G) and other high-speed data/internet services in the Islands.
- (iv) Under  various  mobile  projects,  Government  has  disbursed  Rs.  36,328.79  crore  till 30.06.2025 including Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. The state-wise details are given in Annexure .

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## ANNEXURE

State-wise/ Scheme-wise funds sanctioned/ spent/ disbursed from Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), DoT to provide Mobile/ Telephone connectivity in rural and remote areas of the country as on 30.06.2025

| SI. No.   | Name of States/UT                                    |   Funds sanctioned/ Spent/Disbursed (Rs. In crores) |
|-----------|------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Andaman & Nicobar                                    |                                             2150.19 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh                                       |                                             1951.44 |
| 3         | Assam                                                |                                              786.46 |
| 4         | Bihar                                                |                                              890.19 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh                                         |                                             1932.05 |
| 6         | Centrally disbursed                                  |                                             9087.21 |
| 7         | Gujrat (including Dadar Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu) |                                             1010.46 |
| 8         | Haryana                                              |                                              178.89 |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh                                     |                                              534.2  |
| 10        | Jammu and Kashmir (including Ladakh)                 |                                              563.58 |
| 11        | Jharkhand                                            |                                             1911.21 |
| 12        | Karnataka                                            |                                              913.24 |
| 13        | Kerala                                               |                                              660.28 |
| 14        | Lakshadweep                                          |                                              839.28 |
| 15        | Madhya Pradesh                                       |                                             2237.88 |
| 16        | Maharashtra (including Goa)                          |                                             1757.74 |
| 17        | NE-I (Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura)                   |                                             1093.21 |
| 18        | NE-II (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland)         |                                             1538.34 |
| 19        | Odisha                                               |                                             1724.12 |
| 20        | Punjab                                               |                                             1005.5  |
| 21        | Rajasthan                                            |                                              817.83 |
| 22        | Tamil Nadu                                           |                                              456.22 |
| 23        | Telangana                                            |                                              348.06 |
| 24        | Uttar Pradesh                                        |                                             1113.95 |
| 25        | Uttarakhand                                          |                                              451.47 |
| 26        | West Bengal (including Sikkim)                       |                                              375.78 |
|           | Grand total                                          |                                            36328.8  |

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