Lok Sabha Question No. 3114 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-16
Subject: NTP-2012
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: DEVAJIBHAI GOVINDBHAI FATEPARA, SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE, BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB, KRISHNAN NARAYANASAMY RAMACHANDRAN

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3114

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 16 th  MARCH, 2016

## NTP-2012

## 3114.   SHRI DEVAJIBHAI G. FATEPARA:

SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE:

SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

SHRI K.N. RAMACHANDRAN:

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

- (a) the  details  of  the  objectives  and  vision  of  the  National  Telecom  Policy,  2012 (NTP)  along  with  the  extent  to  which  such  objectives  have  been  achieved  by  the Government so far;
- (b) the  details  of  the  funds  allocated,  released  and  utilised  under  the  NTP  since inception;
- (c) whether the Government has received complaints of irregularities/corruption/diversion  of  funds  in  the  implementation  of  the  policy  since inception and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken/being taken by the Government on such complaints;
- (d) whether the Government is aware that the tele-density of some of the States is below  the  National  average  in  the  country,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons therefor,  State/UT-wise along with the steps taken/being taken by the Government to bring the tele-density of such States at par with the National average and achievements derived therefrom so far; and
- (e) the  number  of  villages  that  have  been  connected  with  telecom  network  since inception of the policy across the country, State/UT-wise?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) The vision of the National Telecom Policy, 2012 (NTP-12) is to provide secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for  an  accelerated  inclusive  socio-economic  development.  The  major  objectives  of  NTP-12 include,  among other things,  provision of broadband and mobile services primarily in rural and remote areas,   which are being achieved by pursuing general policy initiative and undertaking various projects like setting up of mobile towers in Left Wing Affected States and North Eastern States, National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) etc.

The  funds  allocated  and  utilised  for  such  purposes  by  Universal  Service  Obligation Fund(USOF) as on 29.2.2016 are as under:

(Amount in crores)

| Financial year   |   Funds Allocated/Released/Utilised |
|------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 2012-13          |                              625    |
| 2013-14          |                             2163.45 |
| 2014-15          |                             2086.98 |
| 2015-16          |                             2170.84 |

(c) 1. Complaint dated 11.07.2013 from Shri Sita Ram Sharma:The complaint regarding alleged procedural and financial irregularities in Rural Telephone Connections is already subject matter of investigation by Vigilance wing of DoT.

The  complaint  was  received  in  respect  of    Rural  Telephone    Connections  provided  in rural  areas. However, the complaint  was withdrawn by the complainant vide his letter

2. Complaint dated 22.07.2013 from Shri Anil Singh Shekhawat:dated 04.12.2013.

## 3. Complaint from Shri Dinesh Hissaria, Advocate Rajasthan High Court received in Secretary Office on 14.11.2013:-

- The complaint regarding alleged misappropriation of USO Fund has already been replied vide this office letter dated 27.01.2014.
- (d) The details  of  overall  tele-density,  Service  area  wise  as  on  31.1.2016  is  at Annexure . SAs  of Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, North-east, West Bengal and J&K have tele-density below the national level. The variation in tele-density is primarily due to difference in purchasing power parity of the consumers.

Various schemes are being implemented/planned with financial support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for improvement 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.
- (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.
- (iii) The  Project  'Comprehensive  Telecom  Development  Plan  for  the  North-Eastern Region  (NER)'    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 at an estimated  cost of 5336.18 crores.

(iv) Mobile coverage to 55, 669 uncovered villages has been planned to be provided in a  phased  manner,  subject  to  availability  of  financial  resources.  Provision  of  mobile coverage to 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) 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 under the Rural Wireline Broadband Scheme.

(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 06.03.2016, 1,26,799 km of pipes and 98,901 km of optical fibre cables have been laid. Further, number of Gram Panchayats where OFC has been laid is 42,110.

(vii) USOF schemes for creation of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Infrastructure in NorthEast 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.

(e) The number of villages that have been connected with telecom network since inception of the policy is not available.

Contd…4/-

*****

## Annexure

## Service area wise overall teledensity as on 31.01.2016

| Sr. No.   | Service area         | Overall Teledensity (in %)   |
|-----------|----------------------|------------------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh       | 86.67                        |
| 2         | Assam                | 55.94                        |
| 3         | Bihar                | 52.71                        |
| 4         | Gujarat              | 98.81                        |
| 5         | Haryana              | 84.93                        |
| 6         | Himachal Pradesh     | 124.94                       |
| 7         | Jammu & Kashmir      | 79.09                        |
| 8         | Karnataka            | 102.18                       |
| 9         | Kerala               | 100.84                       |
| 10        | Madhya Pradesh       | 63.39                        |
| 11        | Maharashtra          | 85.41                        |
| 12        | North East           | 78.77                        |
| 13        | Odisha               | 66.79                        |
| 14        | Punjab               | 104.55                       |
| 15        | Rajasthan            | 82.37                        |
| 16        | Tamil Nadu           | 117.63                       |
| 17        | Uttar Pradesh (East) |                              |
| 18        | Uttar Pradesh (West) | 64.21                        |
| 19        | West Bengal          | 61.80                        |
| 20        | Kolkata              | 162.20                       |
| 21        | Delhi                | 240.71                       |
| 22        | Mumbai               | 150.18                       |
|           | All India total      | 82.34                        |