Lok Sabha Question No. 948 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-02
Subject: Wi-Fi Connectivity
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: DEVJI MANSINGRAM PATEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 948 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 nd  MARCH,  2016

## Wi-Fi Connectivity

†948. SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL:

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

- (a) whether the Government has any plans to provide free of cost Wi-Fi connectivity services  in  Cities  and  Panchayats  including  Rajasthan  under  National  Broadband Project in future;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any time limit has been prescribed for completion of such project;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether  the  delay  in  getting  necessary  Gigabet  Passive  Optical  Network,  the completion of project is likely to be delayed; and
- (f) if so, the total stretch in kilometers of completion of fibre network in the country including Rajasthan?

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## ANSWER (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) to (d) National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project  was planned, in 2011,  to connect  all  Gram  Panchayats  (approx.  2.5  lakh)  in  the  country  through  Optical  Fibre Cable (OFC) utilizing existing fibres of  Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) viz. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL)  and RailTel and laying incremental fiber wherever necessary to bridge the connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Blocks for providing broadband connectivity by all categories of service providers on non-discriminatory basis including Internet Service Providers.

The  timeline  for  connecting  one  lakh  GPs  with  OFC  to  provide  broadband connectivity under Phase-I has been revised to 31.12.2016.

In order to review the strategy and approach towards speedy implementation of NOFN Project, a Committee was constituted on 14th January,  2015. The  Committee submitted its report on 31 st March, 2015. The Committee, inter-alia, recommended that the  project  be  renamed  as  BharatNet  to  reflect  the  national  aspiration  to  establish  a highly  scalable  network  infrastructure  accessible  on  a  non-discriminatory  basis  to realize the vision of Digital India, in partnership with the States and the private sector. One of the recommendations of the Committee is that at least one hour of free Wi-Fi usage  per  day  for  each  resident  of  the  GP  should  be  provided  by  the  identified community Wi-Fi services provider.

- (e) & (f) Efforts are being made to expedite the supply of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) equipment for timely completion of the project.  State-wise status of NOFN, including Rajasthan, as on 31.01.2016, is given in the Statement at Annexure-I.

Annexure-I

## Statewise status of NOFN (BharatNet) as on  31.01.2016

| S.No.   | States/ UTs         | No. of Gram Panchayats (GPs)- Phase I   | Pipe laid (kms.)   | Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid (in kms)   | No. of GPs where OFC laid   | No. of GPs lit   |
|---------|---------------------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------|-------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------|
| 1.      | Jammu &Kashmir      | 624                                     | 93                 | 69                                        | 47                          | 0                |
| 2.      | Himachal Pradesh    | 283                                     | 201                | 75                                        | 14                          | 0                |
| 3.      | Punjab              | 6128                                    | 4432               | 3280                                      | 2055                        | 0                |
| 4.      | Haryana             | 6090                                    | 4775               | 4340                                      | 2776                        | 45               |
| 5.      | Rajasthan           | 6967                                    | 11281              | 10065                                     | 3092                        | 71               |
| 6.      | Chandigarh          | 12                                      | 18                 | 19                                        | 12                          | 12               |
| 7.      | Uttarakhand         | 1767                                    | 1190               | 862                                       | 554                         | 46               |
| 8.      | UP (West)           | 8040                                    | 8095               | 4290                                      | 2055                        | 65               |
| 9.      | UP (East)           | 14474                                   | 14634              | 10545                                     | 4764                        | 36               |
| 10.     | Bihar               | 5202                                    | 6416               | 5303                                      | 1936                        | 124              |
| 11.     | West Bengal         | 2713                                    | 1933               | 1683                                      | 619                         | 0                |
| 12.     | Sikkim              | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 13.     | Assam               | 1013                                    | 1751               | 1359                                      | 515                         | 23               |
| 14.     | Jharkhand           | 1388                                    | 2600               | 1862                                      | 770                         | 84               |
| 15.     | Odisha              | 3388                                    | 4086               | 2960                                      | 1355                        | 12               |
| 16.     | Andaman &Nicobar    | 69                                      | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 17.     | Arunachal Pradesh   | 256                                     | 272                | 69                                        | 10                          | 0                |
| 18.     | Nagaland            | 743                                     | 1160               | 509                                       | 154                         | 0                |
| 19.     | Manipur             | 24                                      | 71                 | 73                                        | 24                          | 0                |
| 20.     | Meghalaya           | 638                                     | 737                | 210                                       | 47                          | 0                |
| 21.     | Tripura             | 1021                                    | 1277               | 951                                       | 434                         | 40               |
| 22.     | Mizoram             | 163                                     | 183                | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 23.     | Madhya Pradesh      | 10516                                   | 15531              | 12134                                     | 3898                        | 26               |
| 24.     | Chattishgarh        | 2110                                    | 4368               | 3913                                      | 1258                        | 171              |
| 25.     | Gujarat             | 5735                                    | 5508               | 3572                                      | 1648                        | 91               |
| 26.     | Maharashtra         | 12055                                   | 11078              | 7826                                      | 3478                        | 37               |
| 27.     | Daman &Diu          | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 28.     | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 29.     | Karanataka          | 5599                                    | 9596               | 9248                                      | 4348                        | 2283             |
| 30.     | Andhra Pradesh      | 0                                       | 1913               | 19                                        | 0                           | 0                |
| 31.     | Telengana           | 2097                                    | 3912               | 2883                                      | 1296                        | 5                |
| 32.     | Tamil Nadu          | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 33.     | Kerala              | 977                                     | 746                | 810                                       | 1129                        | 1129             |
| 34.     | Pudducherry         | 98                                      | 82                 | 92                                        | 98                          | 101              |
| 35.     | Lakshadweep         | 10                                      | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 36.     | Goa*                | -                                       | -                  | -                                         | -                           | -                |
| Grand   | Total               | 100200                                  | 117939             | 89021                                     | 38386                       | 4401             |

*All the GPs of Goa are already connected with Optical Fibre.