Lok Sabha Question No. 668 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-27
Subject: Landline Telephones
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: ANANDRAO  ADSUL, NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN, VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, Shrirang Appa Barne, RAKESH SINGH

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.668 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 th  APRIL, 2016

## LANDLINE TELEPHONES

†668.  SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL: SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN: SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI RAKESH SINGH:

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

- (a) whether landline telephone base of public sector companies have been facing challenges from their private counterparts;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  of  consumer  base  of  Government  and  private  sector companies, company-wise along with the details of customers of BSNL and MTNL who have surrendered their landline telephone or Wi-Fi service during the last three years;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  introduce  any  new  services,  schemes and cheap tariff plans to attract landline telephone consumers in the country;
- (d) if so, the details in this regard; and
- (e) the  time  by  which  such  new  schemes,  services  will  be  available  to  the consumers?

## ANSWER

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

(a)&(b) Details  of  landline  consumer  base  of  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited (BSNL)  and  Mahanagar  Telephone  Nigam  Limited  (MTNL)  vis-à-vis  Private  Sector Companies as on 31.12.2015 are as follows:

| Name of Service Provider                | Landline customer base (As on 31.12.2015)   |
|-----------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| BSNL                                    | 1,51,33,945                                 |
| MTNL                                    | 35,17,794                                   |
| Bharti Airtel Ltd.                      | 35,97,462                                   |
| Quadrant Televenture                    | 2,49,964                                    |
| Sistema Shaym Teleservices Ltd.         | 57,932                                      |
| Tata Teleservices Ltd. (including TTML) | 17,03,364                                   |
| Reliance Communications Ltd.            | 11,64,544                                   |
| Vodafone                                | 93,480                                      |

Details of customers of BSNL and MTNL who have surrendered their landline telephone  connections  including  Wi-Fi  services  during  the  last  three  years  are  as follows:

| Year   | No of customers who surrendered landline connections   | No of customers who surrendered landline connections   |
|--------|--------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
|        | BSNL                                                   | MTNL                                                   |
| 2013   | 35,48,964                                              | 1,29,799                                               |
| 2014   | 30,75,584                                              | 1,37,666                                               |
| 2015   | 29,43,773                                              | 1,17,958                                               |

(Note : the above figures includes disconnections due to non-payment)

(c) to (e) BSNL and MTNL are offering competitive and affordable tariff plans to fulfill  the  needs of their customers belonging to various strata of the society.  BSNL and    MTNL  introduce/revise  their  tariff  plans  as  per  market  trend  and  commercial viability.

Further,  BSNL  and  MTNL  have  taken  various  steps  to  make  their  landline services more customer friendly and attractive. Some of them are as follows:

## BSNL

-  Setup of wireline call centres for the customers of landline and broadband at Dehradun, Ajmer and Bangalore. Traffic from all  circles has been migrated to these call centres.
-  Launched  various  customer  centric  initiatives  like  Night  free  calling  from landline from 9 PM to 7 AM.
-  Increased minimum speed of broadband to 2 Mbps

## MTNL

-  Set  up  of  wireline  call  centers  for  the  customers  of  landline,  mobile  & broadband at Delhi and Mumbai.
-  Launched Night free calling from landline from 10 PM to 7 AM.
-  Increased minimum speed of broadband to 2 Mbps

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