Lok Sabha Question No. 3343 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-09
Subject: Areas Remained Uncovered under USOF
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sunil Baburao Mendhe

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3343 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH  AUGUST, 2023

## AREAS REMAINED UNCOVERED UNDER USOF

## 3343.   SHRI SUNIL BABURAO MENDHE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether a number of areas remained uncovered under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) project in Maharashtra and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether any project proposals are pending with the Government for Maharashtra for these uncovered areas;

(c) if so, the details thereof;

- (d) the number of projects under USOF sanctioned by the Government during the last three years;

(e) whether the Government also plans to upgrade the existing BSNL services using the funds and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the  details  of  the  funds  disbursed  from  the  budget  for  USOF  during  the  last  three  years, Statewise?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c) Union Cabinet  on  27.07.2022  has  approved  a  project  for  saturation  of  4G  mobile services in uncovered villages across the country. The project will provide 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas, including Maharashtra. In addition, 6,279 villages having only 2G/3G connectivity shall be upgraded to 4G. After survey, 2,943 villages in Maharashtra have been identified for providing 4G coverage under this project.

Further, to connect all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) with broadband in the country including Maharashtra, BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner. The scope of BharatNet has been recently extended upto all inhabited villages beyond GPs. In Maharashtra, out of 27,939 planned GPs, 23,963 GPs have been made service ready till Jun-2023.

(d) During  the  last  three  years,  following  06  projects  were  approved  by  the  Government  (i) Upgradation of existing 2G mobile towers to 4G mobile towers of the scheme Left Wing Extremism (LWE)  Phase-I, (ii)  Provisioning of 4G based Mobile service in 7287 uncovered villages of 44 Aspirational  Districts  of  5  States  -Andhra  Pradesh,  Chhattisgarh,  Jharkhand,  Maharashtra  and Odisha,  (iii)  Provisioning  of  4G  mobile  services  in  Arunachal  Pradesh  and  two  Districts  (Karbi Anglong & Dima Hasao) of Assam, (iv) Project for saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country, (v) Provisioning of 4G mobile services at 1,117 locations of Border Out Posts (BOPs) of various Border Guard Forces (BGFs)  and Border Intelligence Posts (BIPs), (vi) Augmentation of Telecom infrastructure in Lakshadweep islands.

(e) The Universal Service Obligation Fund is utilized as per the provision of Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act-2003. It does not include provision for upgrading BSNL Services.

(f) The State/UT-wise details of funds disbursed under various USOF Schemes during last three years (2020-21 to 2022-23) is given in Annexure-I .

## Annexure-I

Annexure  referred  to  in  Part  (f)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  3343  for  answer  on 09.08.2023

State/UT-wise details of disbursement of Funds under various USOF schemes during last three years 2020-21 to 2022-23.

| Sl. No.     | Name of State/UT                                             | Rupees in crores   |
|-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|
| 1           | Andaman & Nicobar                                            | 681.01             |
| 2           | Andhra Pradesh                                               | 249.70             |
| 3           | Assam                                                        | 132.73             |
| 4           | Bihar                                                        | 112.43             |
| 5           | Chhattisgarh                                                 | 455.49             |
| 6           | Centrally disbursed from USOF                                | 14,753.68          |
| 7           | Gujarat (including Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu) | 47.60              |
| 8           | Haryana                                                      | 21.09              |
| 9           | Himachal Pradesh                                             | 24.10              |
| 10          | Jammu and Kashmir (including Ladakh)                         | 74.97              |
| 11          | Jharkhand                                                    | 322.69             |
| 12          | Karnataka                                                    | 102.97             |
| 13          | Kerala                                                       | 24.98              |
| 14          | Lakshadweep                                                  | 254.34             |
| 15          | Maharashtra                                                  | 108.42             |
| 16          | Madhya Pradesh                                               | 240.98             |
| 17          | NE-I (including Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura)                 | 210.70             |
| 18          | NE-II (including Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland)       | 271.22             |
| 19          | Odisha                                                       | 357.53             |
| 20          | Punjab                                                       | 27.56              |
| 21          | Rajasthan                                                    | 221.32             |
| 22          | Tamil Nadu                                                   | 26.54              |
| 23          | Telangana                                                    | 87.85              |
| 24          | Uttar Pradesh                                                | 108.25             |
| 25          | Uttarakhand                                                  | 23.13              |
| 26          | West Bengal                                                  | 58.74              |
| Grand Total | Grand Total                                                  | 19,000.00          |

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