Lok Sabha Question No. 353 (STARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: 3G and 4G Licensing Norms
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY, PARAYAMPARANBIL KUTTAPPAN BIJU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.353 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10 TH   AUGUST, 2016

## 3G AND 4G LICENSING NORMS

- *353.   SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY: SHRI P.K. BIJU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  telecom  service  providers  who  have  launched  4G  service,  State  and operator-wise;
- (b) the mechanism in place to monitor and ascertain service providers providing uninterrupted 2G or 3G services to its customers before adding customers for 4G service;
- (c) whether  some  of  the  mobile  service  providers  have  reportedly  violated  the  licensing norms in providing 3G and 4G services and if so, the details of violations reported; and
- (d) the action taken against the erring service providers during the last three years and the current  year,  company-wise and the steps taken by the Government to ensure compliance of licensing norms by the mobile service providers?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 353  FOR 10 TH   AUGUST, 2016 REGARDING '3G AND 4G LICENSING NORMS'.

(a) As per the information received from Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) the status of launch of services  using  Long  Term  Evolution  (LTE)  technology  (commonly  known  as  4G)  is  annexed  at Annexure-I .

(b) As per provisions contained in section 11(1)(b)(i) of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act  1997,  TRAI  has  been  entrusted  to  discharge  the  functions  of  ensuring  compliance  of  terms  and conditions of licence granted to TSPs.  Further, as per provisions contained in section 11(1)(b)(v) of the TRAI Act 1997, TRAI prescribes Quality of Service (QoS) norms for the Telecom Services and discharge the function to ensure its compliance by the TSPs within the powers under the Act. For assessing the performance of TSPs and to protect the interest of consumers, TRAI has laid down the Quality of Service norms for Basic Service (Wireline), Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (2G & 3G) and Broadband Service through  various Regulations, which  inter-alia prescribes norms  for interruption in service.  TRAI undertakes assessment for compliance to above-said Regulations by following means:

- (1)  Quarterly Reports, on self-declaration basis from the service providers;
- (2)  Independent Service Drive-tests on sample basis in different cities at different intervals; and
- (3)  Assessing customer perception of service through surveys.

The results of the audit and assessment of quality of service and surveys are published for the information of stakeholders, which also force the service providers to improve the quality of service.

As per the performance monitoring report for the quarter ending March 2016, for Cellular Mobile Telephone  Services  (2G/  3G),  all  the  service  providers  are  generally  meeting  the  network  related benchmarks.   For  example  -the  parameter  Base  Transceiver  Stations  (BTSs)  Accumulated  downtime (not  available  for  service)  is  met  by  all  the  Service  Providers  in  all  the  service  areas  except  Aircel  in Assam and North-East and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in North-East Service Areas.  The detailed report is published by TRAI on its website www.trai.gov.in.

As per present regulations, there is no correlation between service provisioning in 2G or 3G and subscriber acquisition in 4G by the service providers.

(c) & (d) During the year 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, the following instances of non-compliance by service providers, with the Quality of Service benchmarks laid down by TRAI through Quality of Service Regulations issued from time to time, have been observed:

| Services   |   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 |
|------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| 2G         |    487 |    817 |    819 |    176 |
| 3G         |     58 |    141 |    167 |     37 |

TRAI has been pursuing with service providers for improving Quality of Service and in this regard regular  interactions  are  held  with  the  service  providers.    The  results  of  the  audit  and  assessment  of quality  of  service  and  surveys  are  published  for  the  information  of  stakeholders,  which  also  force  the service providers to improve the quality of service.

Wherever the quality of service benchmarks are not met, TRAI has also been imposing financial disincentives  on  service  providers,  for  failure  to  comply  with  the  benchmarks,  in  accordance  with  the provisions  of  the  regulations.  The  details  of  financial  disincentives  for  non-compliance  of  Quality  of Service Parameters, service provider wise, financial year-wise is enclosed as Annexure - II .

## Status of launch of 4G (LTE - Long Term Evolution) Services :

## (As on 31.07.2016)

## License Service Area-wise details:

|   Sl. No. | License Service                                       | Status of launch of 4G Services                                                                                                           |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Area Andhra Pradesh (includes Telangana)              | 1. Aircel/ Dishnet - 15 Cities/ towns 2. Bharti Airtel - 105 Cities/ towns 3. Idea - 57 Cities/ towns 4. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns |
|         2 | Assam                                                 | None                                                                                                                                      |
|         3 | Bihar (includes Jharkhand)                            | None                                                                                                                                      |
|         4 | Delhi (includes Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida) | 1. Bharti Airtel - 6 Cities/ towns 2. Vodafone - 1 Cities/ towns 3. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                      |
|         5 | Gujarat                                               | 1. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                                                                                       |
|         6 | Haryana                                               | 1. Bharti Airtel - 41 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 38 Cities/ towns                                                                            |
|         7 | Himachal Pradesh                                      | 1. Bharti Airtel - 6 Cities/ towns                                                                                                        |
|         8 | Jammu & Kashmir                                       | None                                                                                                                                      |
|         9 | Karnataka                                             | 1. Bharti Airtel - 155 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 41 Cities/ towns 3. Vodafone - 1 Cities/ towns                                             |
|        10 | Kerala                                                | 1. Bharti Airtel - 206 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 102 Cities/ towns 3. Vodafone - 1 Cities/ towns                                            |
|        11 | Kolkata (Metro)                                       | 1. Bharti Airtel - 1 Cities/ towns 2. Vodafone - 1 Cities/ towns 3. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                      |
|        12 | Madhya Pradesh (includes Chhatisgarh)                 | 1. Bharti Airtel - 187 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 9 Cities/ towns                                                                            |
|        13 | Maharashtra                                           | 1. Bharti Airtel - 199 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 46 Cities/ towns 3. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                       |
|        14 | Mumbai (Metro)                                        | 1. Bharti Airtel - 2 Cities/ towns 2. Vodafone - 1 Cities/ towns 3. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                      |
|        15 | North East                                            | 1. Bharti Airtel - 68 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 6 Cities/ towns                                                                             |
|        16 | Odisha                                                | 1. Aircel/ Dishnet - 13 Cities/ towns 2. Bharti Airtel - 31 Cities/ towns 3. Idea - 50 Cities/ towns                                      |
|        17 | Punjab                                                | 1. Bharti Airtel - 185 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 17 Cities/ towns                                                                           |
|        18 | Rajasthan                                             | 1. Bharti Airtel - 20 Cities/ towns                                                                                                       |
|        19 | Tamilnadu (includes Chennai Metro)                    | 1. Bharti Airtel - 262 Cities/ towns 2. Idea - 9 Cities/ towns                                                                            |
|        20 | Uttar Pradesh (East)                                  | 1. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                                                                                       |
|        21 | Uttar Pradesh (West) (includes Uttarakhand)           | 1. Reliance Comm. - 1 Cities/ towns                                                                                                       |
|        22 | West Bengal (includes Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar)      | None                                                                                                                                      |

## Operator-wise details:

|   Sl. No. | Name of TSP             | Number of Service Areas having 4G Services                                                                              | Number of Cities/ towns having 4G Services                                                                              |
|-----------|-------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Aircel/ Dishnet         | 2                                                                                                                       | 28                                                                                                                      |
|         2 | Bharti Airtel           | 15                                                                                                                      | 1474                                                                                                                    |
|         3 | Idea                    | 10                                                                                                                      | 375                                                                                                                     |
|         4 | Vodafone                | 5                                                                                                                       | 5                                                                                                                       |
|         5 | Reliance Communications | 8                                                                                                                       | 8                                                                                                                       |
|         6 | Reliance Jio            | The TSP has offered testing for 4G services in all the 22 service areas but has not launched commercial service as yet. | The TSP has offered testing for 4G services in all the 22 service areas but has not launched commercial service as yet. |

## Annexure-II

## Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on 2G & 3G Service Providers, due to noncompliance of Quality of Service Benchmarks (Financial Year-wise)

(Rs. in Lakhs) (As on 31.07.2016)

| Financial Year                           | 2013-14   | 2014-15   | 2015-16   | 2016-17   | Total   |
|------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------|
| 2G Services                              |           |           |           |           |         |
| Aircel                                   | 46        | 97        | 91        | 26        | 260     |
| Bharti                                   | 3.5       | 5         | 15.5      | 4         | 28      |
| Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)      | 46        | 108       | 53.5      | 9         | 216.5   |
| Idea                                     | 13        | 3         | 2.5       | 4         | 22.5    |
| Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) | 1         | 0.5       | 0         | 0         | 1.5     |
| Reliance Communications (RCom)           | 41        | 32        | 25.5      | 25        | 123.5   |
| Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL)           | 7.5       | 7.5       | 5.5       | 10        | 30.5    |
| Sistema                                  | 1.5       | 1.5       | 0         | 0         | 3       |
| Tata                                     | 10.5      | 16.5      | 33.5      | 17        | 77.5    |
| Telewings                                | 4         | 1.5       | 0         | 2         | 7.5     |
| Vodafone                                 | 6.5       | 7         | 30        | 16        | 59.5    |
| Total                                    | 180.5     | 279.5     | 257       | 113       | 830     |
| 3G Services                              |           |           |           |           |         |
| Aircel                                   | 6         | 50        | 63        | 12        | 131     |
| BSNL                                     | 2         | 16        | 37.5      | 7         | 62.5    |
| Vodafone                                 | 0.5       | 0         | 1         | 0         | 1.5     |
| Total                                    | 8.5       | 66        | 101.5     | 19        | 195     |

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