Lok Sabha Question No. 4016 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: Broadband Proliferation in Rural Areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: P.R. SUNDARAM

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4016 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10 TH   AUGUST, 2016

## BROADBAND PROLIFERATION IN RURAL AREAS

4016. SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the broadband proliferation provided in rural areas by each of the Telecom Service Providers (TSP), State and TSP-wise including BSNL;
- (b) whether  the  private  service  providers  are  showing  less  interest  in  expansion  of  the internet service in rural areas; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) As per information received from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there are about 33.29 Million rural broadband subscribers (wireline + wireless) in the country as on 31 st March 2016. Out of this, about 4.06 Million rural broadband subscribers have been provided by Public  Sector  Unit  (PSU)  service  providers  namely  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Ltd.  (BSNL)  and Mahanagar  Telephone  Nigam  Ltd.  (MTNL)  and  rest  of  the  29.23  Million  rural  broadband subscribers have been provided by private service providers.

The  service  area  wise  details  of  total  number  of  rural  broadband  subscribers  in  the country are enclosed as Annexure-I . Further, TSP-wise number of rural broadband subscribers is enclosed as Annexure-II .

- (b)&(c) As  per  TRAI,  there  are  about  111.94  Million  rural  internet  subscribers  in  the country  as  on  31 st March  2016.  Out  of  this,  103.89  Million  are  provided  by  private  service providers and 8.05 Million have been provided by PSU service providers.

The service-area wise number of rural internet connections provided by PSU and private service providers as on 31 st March 2016 are enclosed as Annexure-III .

In order to further improve proliferation of Broadband Services in rural areas, National Optical  Fibre  Network  (NOFN)  project  renamed  as  BharatNet  has  been  planned  by  the Government to establish a network infrastructure by connecting all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5  lakh)  in  the  country.   Under  this  project,  1,53,340  km  pipe  and  1,28,813  km  Optical  Fibre Cable  (OFC)  have  been  laid  connecting  56,117  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  with  OFC  upto 30.07.2016. Out of these, 7607 GPs have been provided with broadband connectivity upto 100 Mbps bandwidth.

## Annexure-I

## Service Area-wise, Rural Broadband subscriber-base as on 31 st March, 2016 reported by Service Providers

| Telecom Service Area   |   No. of Rural Subscribers in Millions |
|------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh         |                                   3.43 |
| Assam                  |                                   0.84 |
| Bihar                  |                                   1.95 |
| Delhi                  |                                   0.45 |
| Gujarat                |                                   1.95 |
| Haryana                |                                   0.89 |
| Himachal Pradesh       |                                   0.74 |
| Jammu & Kashmir        |                                   0.67 |
| Karnataka              |                                   1.92 |
| Kerala                 |                                   2.87 |
| Kolkata                |                                   0.3  |
| Madhya Pradesh         |                                   1.07 |
| Maharashtra            |                                   3.18 |
| Mumbai                 |                                   0.12 |
| North East             |                                   0.62 |
| Orissa                 |                                   0.65 |
| Punjab                 |                                   1.12 |
| Rajasthan              |                                   1.85 |
| Tamil Nadu             |                                   3.32 |
| UP (East)              |                                   1.81 |
| UP (West)              |                                   1.32 |
| West Bengal            |                                   2.21 |
| Total                  |                                  33.29 |

Contd….3/-

## Service  Area-wise,  Rural  Broadband  subscriber-base  as  on  31 st March,  2016  reported  by  Service Providers

| Name of the Service Provider                                    | Number of Subscribers   | Rural Broadband   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------|
| Bharti Airtel Ltd.                                              |                         | 13223860          |
| Idea Cellular Limited*                                          |                         | 7025343           |
| Vodafone*                                                       |                         | 5062051           |
| Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.                                       |                         | 4061131           |
| Aircel                                                          |                         | 2499028           |
| Reliance Communications                                         |                         | 479495            |
| Tata*                                                           |                         | 473852            |
| Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd.                                 |                         | 218755            |
| Asianet Satellite Communications Ltd.                           |                         | 87216             |
| GTPL Hathway Private Limited                                    |                         | 67517             |
| Apna Telelink Ltd.                                              |                         | 14962             |
| Alliance Broadband Services Pvt. Ltd.                           |                         | 12561             |
| Pioneer eLabs Ltd.                                              |                         | 10063             |
| Limras Eronet Broadband Service Pvt Ltd                         |                         | 8019              |
| Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.                                  |                         | 6709              |
| SITI Broadband Services Pvt. Ltd.                               |                         | 5237              |
| Quadrant Televentures Ltd.                                      |                         | 5046              |
| City Online Services Ltd                                        |                         | 4709              |
| World Phone Internet Services Pvt Ltd                           |                         | 4676              |
| Nettlinx Ltd.                                                   |                         | 3843              |
| Quest Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. Digital Network associates Pvt. Ltd |                         | 2388 2284         |
| Blazenet Ltd.                                                   |                         | 1725              |
| Kaizen Infonet Pvt Ltd                                          |                         | 1539              |
| Siliguri Internet & Cable TV Pvt. Ltd.                          |                         | 976               |
| North East Data Network Pvt Ltd.                                |                         | 877               |
| Capture Network Systems Pvt. Ltd.                               |                         | 805               |
| Ishan Netsol Pvt Ltd                                            |                         | 790               |
| Yashash Cable Network Pvt Ltd                                   |                         | 653               |
| Airgenie Communications Pvt. Ltd.                               |                         | 638               |
| Meghbela Cable & Broadband Servies (P) Ltd                      |                         | 427               |
| Correl IT Services Pvt. Ltd.                                    |                         | 246               |
| Sphier Infotech Pvt. Ltd.                                       |                         | 185               |
| Tamana Winet Pvt. Ltd.                                          |                         | 185               |
| Readylink Internet Services Pvt Ltd                             |                         | 141               |
| Swiftmail Communications Ltd.                                   |                         | 110               |
| Sab Infotech                                                    |                         | 94                |
| Shri Vinayagaa Internet Pvt Ltd                                 |                         | 58                |
| HCL Comnet Systems & Services Ltd.                              |                         | 31                |
| Bhiwani Communications Pvt. Ltd.                                |                         | 27                |
| Rida Communication Pvt. Ltd.                                    |                         | 27                |
| Kappa Internet Services Pvt Ltd.                                |                         | 26                |
| Aeroway Networks Pvt Ltd.                                       |                         | 23                |
| Oasis Cable Pvt Ltd.                                            |                         | 23                |
| Symbois Creations Pvt. Ltd.                                     |                         | 18                |
| CJ Online Pvt. Ltd.                                             |                         | 5                 |
| Adya Tech One Services Pvt Ltd                                  |                         | 4                 |
| Sanyog Networks Pvt Ltd                                         |                         | 4                 |
| Nextgen Communications Ltd.                                     |                         | 3                 |
| ERNET India                                                     |                         | 1                 |
| Microsense Pvt. Ltd. Total                                      |                         | 1 33,288,782      |

## Annexure-III

## Private & PSU wise Rural Internet Subscribers as on 31 st March, 2016 as reported by Service Providers

(In Millions)

| Telecom Service Area   |   Internet Rural Subscribers of Private Service Providers |   Internet Rural Subscribers of PSU Service Providers |
|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh         |                                                      7.71 |                                                  1.42 |
| Assam                  |                                                      3.09 |                                                  0.13 |
| Bihar                  |                                                      8.64 |                                                  0.23 |
| Delhi                  |                                                      0.92 |                                                  0.01 |
| Gujarat                |                                                      5.78 |                                                  0.28 |
| Haryana                |                                                      2.69 |                                                  0.28 |
| Himachal Pradesh       |                                                      1.45 |                                                  0.31 |
| Jammu & Kashmir        |                                                      1.8  |                                                  0.04 |
| Karnataka              |                                                      5.1  |                                                  0.44 |
| Kerala                 |                                                      4.01 |                                                  1.55 |
| Kolkata                |                                                      0.55 |                                                  0    |
| Madhya Pradesh         |                                                      6.02 |                                                  0.22 |
| Maharashtra            |                                                      9.15 |                                                  0.61 |
| Mumbai                 |                                                      0.28 |                                                  0    |
| North East             |                                                      1.82 |                                                  0.15 |
| Orissa                 |                                                      3.05 |                                                  0.31 |
| Punjab                 |                                                      4.33 |                                                  0.38 |
| Rajasthan              |                                                      6.64 |                                                  0.37 |
| Tamil Nadu             |                                                      6.41 |                                                  0.44 |
| UP (East)              |                                                     10.75 |                                                  0.46 |
| UP (West)              |                                                      6.28 |                                                  0.2  |
| West Bengal            |                                                      7.42 |                                                  0.22 |
| Total                  |                                                    103.89 |                                                  8.05 |

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