Lok Sabha Question No. 1023 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-02
Subject: Expansion of Telecom Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: SUKHBIR SINGH JAUNPURIA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1023 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 nd  MARCH,  2016 EXPANSION OF TELECOM SERVICES

†1023. SHRI SUKHBIR SINGH JAUNAPURIA:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that expansion of telecommunication services by the Government is going on at a snail's pace and mobile network service is worse in the rural, backward and far-flung areas as compared to the urban areas;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has taken any steps to bring about improvement in the facilities of mobile and internet services in rural and less populated areas;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether any telecommunication scheme has been implemented in the State of Rajasthan recently; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) & (b) The current level of rural and urban tele-density in the country is 49.82 and 152.57 respectively (as on 31.12.2015). The State-wise details are at Annexure I.
- 5,41,939 villages out of total 5,97,608 villages in the country are already covered with mobile services, leaving only 55,669 villages, i.e., 9.31%, without coverage. Since the  demand  of  telecom  services  is  price  sensitive,  the  level  of  tele-density  is  also determined  by  the  purchasing  ability  of  the  consumers.  The  increase  in  rural  teledensity has gathered momentum in recent times but the wide gap between rural and urban tele-density can be explained by the difference in purchasing power of rural and urban consumers.
- (c) & (d) Various  schemes  are  being  implemented/planned  with  financial  support from  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund  (USOF)  for  expansion  of  mobile  and  internet services in rural and remote areas. Details of such schemes are as below:
- (i) 7,317  Mobile  towers  have  been  installed  with  the  financial  support  from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Shared Mobile Infrastructure  Scheme  in  villages  or  cluster  of  villages  having  population  of 2000 or more and not having mobile coverage.  The infrastructure so created is capable  of  being  shared  by  three  service  providers  for  provision  of  mobile services. The scheme was implemented during the period from June, 2007 to November, 2013.
- (ii) 2199 mobile towers are being set up in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States with a total estimated cost of Rs.3567.58 crore. 1431 sites are radiating as on 15.02.2016.
- (iii)  On 10.09.2014, the Government  approved a proposal to implement a Comprehensive  Telecom  Development  Plan  for  the  North-Eastern  Region (NER).  The Project envisages to provide mobile coverage to 8621 identified uncovered villages by installation of about 6673 mobile towers, installation of 321 mobile tower sites along National  Highways  and strengthening of transmission network in the NER.  The estimated cost of implementation is Rs. 5336.18 crore.  The Project would be funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

- (iv)  Mobile  coverage  to  balance  uncovered  villages  has  been  planned  to  be provided  in  a  phased  manner,  subject  to  availability  of  financial  resources. Provision  of  mobile  coverage  Himalayan  States,  Border  States,  Andaman  & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Daman & Diu and Dadar & Nagar Haveli has been planned.
- (v) The Rural Wireline Broadband Scheme was implemented to provide wire-line broadband connectivity to rural & remote areas. As on 31.01.2015, a total of 6,56,345 broadband connections have been provided and 15,671 kiosks have been set up in rural and remote areas.
- (vi)  BharatNet  /  National Optical  Fibre  Network  (NOFN)  is  planned  to  connect  all the  2,50,000  Gram  Panchayats  in  the  country  through  optical  fibre  utilizing existing fibers of PSUs viz. BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid (and of any desirous private operator) and laying incremental fibre wherever necessary for providing Broadband  connectivity.  Under  this  project,  upto  31.01.2016,  1,17,943  km  of pipes and 89,020 km of optical fibre cables have been laid. Further, number of Gram Panchayats where OFC has been laid is 38,386.
- (vii) USOF  schemes  for  creation  of  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC)  Infrastructure  in North-East  are  being  implemented  to  provide  sufficient  back-haul  capacity  to integrate the voice and data traffic from the access network in the rural areas to their core network by strengthening the Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) infrastructure  to  provide  for  OFC  network  augmentation  between  the  blocks' HQ  and  Districts' HQ  in North-East. In Assam, the scheme  is being implemented  by  BSNL.  308  nodes  have  been  installed  out  of  targeted  354 nodes. In NE-I (Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram)) the scheme is being implemented by M/s RailTel. 104 nodes out of targeted 188 nodes connected on  OFC.    In  NE-II  (Arunachal  Pradesh,  Manipur,  Nagaland)  the  scheme  is being  implemented    by  M/s  RailTel.  36  nodes  out  of  targeted  407  nodes connected on OFC.

(e) & (f) In  Rajasthan,  following  schemes  are  being  implemented/planned  with financial  support  from  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund  (USOF)  for  expansion  of mobile and internet services:

- (i) 403  Mobile  towers  have  been  installed  in  Rajasthan  with  the  financial support  from  Universal  Service  Obligation  Fund  (USOF)  under  the  Shared Mobile  Infrastructure Scheme  in  villages  or cluster of villages  having population of 2000  or  more  and  not  having mobile coverage. The infrastructure  so  created  is  capable  of  being  shared  by  three  service providers  for  provision  of  mobile  services.  The  scheme  was  implemented during the period from June, 2007 to November, 2013.
- (ii) BharatNet / National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is planned to connect all the  9,157  Gram  Panchayats  in  Rajasthan  through  optical  fibre  utilizing existing  fibers  of  PSUs  viz.  BSNL,  RailTel  and  Power  Grid  (and  of  any desirous private operator) and laying incremental fibre wherever necessary for providing Broadband connectivity. Under this project, as on 31.01.2016, 11,281 km of pipes and   10,065 km of optical fibre cables have been laid in Rajasthan. Further, number of Gram Panchayats in Rajasthan where OFC has been laid is 3,092.

## State-wise details of Rural and Urban Tele-density

| S.No.   | Service area         | Rural teledensity in %as on 31.12.2015.   | Urban teledensity in %as on 31.12.2015.   | Total teledensity in %as on 31.12.2015.   |
|---------|----------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh       | 50.95                                     | 178.38                                    | 86.53                                     |
| 2       | Assam                | 41.16                                     | 128.79                                    | 55.22                                     |
| 3       | Bihar                | 35.09                                     | 161.70                                    | 52.55                                     |
| 4       | Gujarat              | 64.74                                     | 143.25                                    | 97.58                                     |
| 5       | Haryana              | 58.22                                     | 130.92                                    | 84.42                                     |
| 6       | Himachal Pradesh     | 92.62                                     | 365.74                                    | 124.54                                    |
| 7       | Jammu & Kashmir      | 57.40                                     | 134.42                                    | 78.84                                     |
| 8       | Karnataka            | 53.27                                     | 179.76                                    | 102.33                                    |
| 9       | Kerala               | 61.56                                     | 215.32                                    | 100.52                                    |
| 10      | Madhya Pradesh       | 38.83                                     | 127.40                                    | 63.07                                     |
| 11      | Maharashtra          | 62.14                                     | 123.88                                    | 84.50                                     |
| 12      | North East           | 52.67                                     | 154.19                                    | 78.17                                     |
| 13      | Odisha               | 46.51                                     | 154.97                                    | 65.69                                     |
| 14      | Punjab               | 70.51                                     | 147.41                                    | 104.15                                    |
| 15      | Rajasthan            | 57.13                                     | 161.06                                    | 82.24                                     |
| 16      | Tamil Nadu           | 83.25                                     | 140.30                                    | 117.27                                    |
| 17      | Uttar Pradesh (East) |                                           |                                           |                                           |
| 18      | Uttar Pradesh (West) | 40.67                                     | 140.58                                    | 63.51                                     |
| 19      | West Bengal          | 49.35                                     | 133.01                                    | 61.40                                     |
| 20      | Kolkata              | #                                         | #                                         | 160.30                                    |
| 21      | Delhi                | #                                         | #                                         | 240.93                                    |
| 22      | Mumbai               | #                                         | #                                         | 149.45                                    |
|         | All India Total      | 49.82                                     | 152.57                                    | 81.85                                     |

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