Lok Sabha Question No. 544 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-20
Subject: Expansion of Telecom Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: LAKHAN LAL SAHU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.544 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH  JULY, 2016

## EXPANSION OF TELECOM SERVICES

## †544. SHRI LAKHAN LAL SAHU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made recommendations  on  expansion  and  improvement  of  telecom  services  in  various States;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise; and
- (c) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  and  strengthen  telecom  and high speed internet services in rural zones in various States including Chhattisgarh?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) & (b) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) has issued two recommendations on ' Improving Telecom Services in the North -Eastern States: An Investment Plan' and ' Improving Telecom Services in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep' on dated 26.09.2013 and 22.07.2014 respectively.
- (c) Various Schemes are being implemented/planned to improve and strengthen telecom in rural and remote areas in the country including the state of Chhattisgarh, as  below :
- (i) 2199 mobile towers are being set up in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States with a total estimated cost of Rs.3567.58 crore. As on 11.7.2016, 2032 sites are radiating.
- (ii) 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.
- (iii) USOF  schemes  for  Creation  of  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC)  Infrastructure  in North-East are 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 OFC infrastructure to provide for OFC network  augmentation  between  the  Block  Head  Quarters(BHQs)  and  District Head  Quarters(DHQs) in North-East. In Assam, the scheme  is being implemented  by  BSNL.  308  nodes  have  been  installed  out  of  targeted  354 nodes.  In  North  East-I  Telecom  Circle(Meghalaya,  Tripura,  Mizoram)  the scheme is being implemented  by M/s RailTel. 123 nodes out of targeted 188 nodes have been  connected on OFC (101 nodes have been commissioned). In  North  East-II  Telecom  Circle(Arunachal  Pradesh,  Manipur,  Nagaland)  the scheme is being implemented  by M/s RailTel.  45  nodes  out  of targeted 407 nodes have been connected on OFC (38 nodes commissioned).

- (iv) Government  has  launched  the  BharatNet/  National  Optical  Fibre  Network (NOFN)  scheme  through  a  Special  Purpose  Vehicle  (SPV)  namely  Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) to connect all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats(GPs)  in  the  country  utilizing  optical  fibres  of  3  PSUs  viz.  BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid. The status of BharatNet/NOFN work of 1,00,000 Gram Panchayats under phase-1 is as given below:-
- (v) For  providing  broadband  connectivity  to  rural  &  remote  areas,  USOF  has signed  an  agreement  with  BSNL  on  20.01.2009  under  the  Rural  Wireline Broadband  Scheme  to  provide  wireline  broadband  connectivity  to  rural  & remote  areas  by  leveraging  the  existing  rural  exchange  infrastructure  and copper  wireline  network.  Under  this  scheme,  a  total  of  6,56,345  broadband connections and 15,671 kiosks have been provided.

| Items                  | Planned   | Achieved   |
|------------------------|-----------|------------|
| Tender Finalised (GPs) | 1,00,000  | 93,802     |
| Work Started (GPs)     | 1,00,000  | 85,247     |
| Pipe laid (GPs)        | 1,00,000  | 64,875     |
| OFC pulled (GPs)       | 1,00,000  | 54,023     |
| Connectivity (GPs)     | 1,00,000  | 7,312      |
| Pipe laid (Km)         | 2,30,000  | 1,50,540   |
| OFC pulled (km)        | 2,30,000  | 1,25,642   |

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