Lok Sabha Question No. 1043 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-26
Subject: Internet connection in Rural areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, Vinayak Bhaurao Raut

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1043 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26 TH  JULY, 2023

## INTERNET CONNECTION IN RURAL AREAS

## †1043. SHRI SANJAY JADHAV: SHRI VINAYAK RAUT:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the present status of the Government's plan to connect rural areas with internet;

(b) whether the Government has achieved the target, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) the  details  of  the  number  of  villages  in  rural  areas  and  Parliamentary  Constituencies  of Maharashtra connected with internet so far, district and village panchayat-wise;

(d) whether it is a fact that said work has been stopped in a number of areas, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  connect  the  villages  with  internet  for  other facilities including education?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e) Government and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) provide telecommunication and mobile internet services in the country in a phased manner. As per data received from Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), Department of Telecommunications field units and State Governments as of March, 2022, out of 6,44,131 villages (villages are as per data of Registrar General of India as of November, 2019) in the country, around 6,05,230 villages are having mobile coverage. Out of total 43,931 villages in Maharashtra, 40,810 villages have mobile connectivity. District wise details of telecommunication connectivity in Maharashtra is at Annexure-I .

Government  is  implementing  various  schemes  under  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund (USOF) to enhance telecommunications and internet connectivity in the rural and remote areas of the country. The details of the schemes are attached as Annexure-II .

## Annexure-I

Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1043 to be answered on 26 th  July, 2023 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament regarding 'Internet connection in Rural areas'

District wise details of mobile internet connectivity in the State of Maharashtra :

|   S. No. | Districts   |   Total no. of Villages as per RGI Data (Nov, 2019) |   Villages Covered with Mobile Connectivity |
|----------|-------------|-----------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Ahmadnagar  |                                                1586 |                                        1489 |
|        2 | Akola       |                                                 972 |                                         955 |
|        3 | Amravati    |                                                1981 |                                        1808 |
|        4 | Aurangabad  |                                                1361 |                                        1347 |
|        5 | Bhandara    |                                                 885 |                                         850 |
|        6 | Bid         |                                                1371 |                                        1349 |
|        7 | Buldana     |                                                1438 |                                        1408 |
|        8 | Chandrapur  |                                                1775 |                                        1696 |
|        9 | Dhule       |                                                 720 |                                         659 |
|       10 | Gadchiroli  |                                                1646 |                                         851 |
|       11 | Gondiya     |                                                 934 |                                         893 |
|       12 | Hingoli     |                                                 708 |                                         705 |
|       13 | Jalgaon     |                                                1524 |                                        1488 |
|       14 | Jalna       |                                                 965 |                                         962 |
|       15 | Kolhapur    |                                                1250 |                                        1176 |
|       16 | Latur       |                                                 943 |                                         939 |
|       17 | Nagpur      |                                                1900 |                                        1795 |
|       18 | Nanded      |                                                1663 |                                        1585 |
|       19 | Nandurbar   |                                                 960 |                                         742 |
|       20 | Nashik      |                                                1928 |                                        1727 |
|       21 | Osmanabad   |                                                 739 |                                         728 |
|       22 | Palghar     |                                                 904 |                                         817 |
|       23 | Parbhani    |                                                 843 |                                         831 |
|       24 | Pune        |                                                1882 |                                        1752 |
|       25 | Raigarh     |                                                2008 |                                        1805 |
|       26 | Ratnagiri   |                                                1538 |                                        1355 |
|       27 | Sangli      |                                                 724 |                                         716 |
|       28 | Satara      |                                                1771 |                                        1611 |
|       29 | Sindhudurg  |                                                 746 |                                         651 |
|       30 | Solapur     |                                                1159 |                                        1148 |
|       31 | Thane       |                                                 816 |                                         763 |
|       32 | Wardha      |                                                1382 |                                        1357 |
|       33 | Washim      |                                                 782 |                                         769 |
|       34 | Yavatmal    |                                                2127 |                                        2083 |

Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1043 to be answered on 26 th  July, 2023 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament regarding 'Internet connection in Rural areas'

Details of schemes/projects to improve the communication network/system in rural and remote areas across the country:

- i. USOF 4G Saturation Scheme to cover 24,680 uncovered villages with 4G and 6,279 villages having 2G/3G connectivity are to be upgraded to 4G.  The estimated project cost is Rs. 26,316 Cr.
- ii. Provision of 4G  Mobile  Services in North  Eastern Region of the country under Comprehensive Telecom Development Program for NER. The estimated cost for schemes is Rs. 3637 Cr.
- iii. Hiring  of  10  Gbps  International  Bandwidth  through  BSNL  for  Internet  Connectivity  to Agartala from BSCCL, Bangladesh via Cox Bazar. Approval has been issued for hiring of additional 10 Gbps International Bandwidth also.
- iv. Provision of 4G mobile connectivity in 354 uncovered villages of J&K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Border area & other priority areas. The estimated project cost is Rs. 337 Cr.
- v. Provision of 4G mobile connectivity in 7,287 Aspirational District villages (Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha). The estimated cost for projects is Rs. 6466 Cr.
- vi. Under  LWE  Phase-I  scheme,  2,343  mobile  towers  have  been  installed  in  LWE  areas. Provision for upgradation of LWE Phase-I from 2G to 4G has also been made. The estimated project cost is Rs. 3567 Cr.
- vii. Under LWE Phase-II scheme, 2,542 mobile towers at  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs (MHA) identified locations are approved across the LWE States for provision of 4G mobile services. The estimated project cost is Rs. 2211 Cr.
- viii. Scheme for providing  4G  mobile  connectivity  in  502  uncovered  villages  of  Aspirational Districts in four States, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The estimated project cost is Rs. 686 Cr.
- ix. Provision  of  4G  Mobile  Coverage  in  85  uncovered  Villages  and  seamless  4G  Mobile coverage of NH223 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The estimated project cost is Rs. 130 Cr.
- x. Submarine  optical  fibre  cable  between  Chennai  and  Andaman  &  Nicobar  Islands  for providing connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The estimated project cost is Rs. 1224 Cr.
- xi. Submarine  OFC  connectivity  between  Kochi  and  Lakshadweep  Islands.  The  estimated project cost is Rs. 1072 Cr.
- xii. BharatNet project to create network to connect all the Gram Panchayats and villages with broadband  infrastructure.  The  total  funding  of  the  BharatNet  (Phase-I  and  Phase-II), approved by the Cabinet, is Rs 42,068 crores (exclusive of taxes).

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