Lok Sabha Question No. 972 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-02
Subject: Telephone Exchanges
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 972

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 nd  MARCH,  2016

## TELEPHONE EXCHANGES

†972. SHRI SADASHIV LOKHANDE:

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

- (a) the number of telephone exchanges set up in rural areas in the country including Maharashtra during the current Five Year Plan as on date, State-wise;
- (b) the places where telephones are not working properly as on date, State-wise and the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to ensure working of telephones properly?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has installed 105 telephone exchanges in rural areas including Maharashtra during the current Five Year Plan.  The Circle-wise details of such exchanges is given in Annexure.
- (b) & (c) The telephone exchanges of BSNL are, in general, working satisfactorily in  the  country  and  are  meeting  the  benchmarks  on  quality  of  services  (QoS)  as prescribed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

To further  improve  its  telephone  services,  BSNL  is  taking  several  steps.  Some  of them are as follows:

-  To reduce the fault rate, BSNL is concentrating on pole-less connectivity to the subscribers.
-  Regular  patrolling of important cable routes to  prevent cable thefts/cable damages.
-  Coordination with local bodies to minimize cable damages  due  to road expansion/repair works.
-  Reduction in prescribed life of telephone instruments and liberal replacement of the same on receiving any complaint.
-  CDR (Call Details Record) project has been implemented. Under this project, the request made by subscriber for the value added services on wire-line is provided immediately. This project also facilitates easy installation, reconnection/disconnection, provision of STD/ISD, choice of tariff plan etc.
-  To ensure the same day/next day fault clearance, instructions have been issued to all the field units.

Contd…….2/-

## Annexure

## Circle-wise details of Telephone exchanges established by BSNL during the current five year plan

| Name of the Circle                                 |   No. of Telephone Exchanges |
|----------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|
| ANDHRA PRADESH                                     |                            3 |
| ASSAM                                              |                            1 |
| BIHAR                                              |                           18 |
| GUJARAT                                            |                           17 |
| HARYANA                                            |                            1 |
| HIMACHAL PRADESH                                   |                           10 |
| JAMMU AND KASHMIR                                  |                            3 |
| KARNATAKA                                          |                            2 |
| MADHYA PRADESH                                     |                           12 |
| MAHARASHTRA                                        |                            3 |
| NORTH-EAST-I (Meghalaya,Mizoram,Tripura            |                            2 |
| NORTH-EAST-II (Manipur,Nagaland,Arunachal Pradesh) |                           12 |
| ODISHA                                             |                           10 |
| RAJASTHAN                                          |                            1 |
| TAMIL NADU                                         |                            5 |
| UTTARAKHAND                                        |                            3 |
| CHENNAI                                            |                            2 |
| TOTAL                                              |                          105 |

**********