Lok Sabha Question No. 93 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-02-24
Subject: Tele Density
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: NITYANAND RAI, ASADUDDIN OWAISI, SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE, VISHNU DAYAL RAM

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.93 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016

## TELE DENSITY

- †93.   SHRI NITYANAND RAI:

SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI: SHR1 SADASHIV LOKHANDE: SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state: (a) whether  despite  the  world  largest  market  there  is  a  huge  gap  between urban  and  rural  tele  density  and  9.31  percent  inhabited  villages  are  yet  to  be covered by telephone services; (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor, State-wise; (c)  the  details  of  village  panchayats  provided  with  telephone facilities  and those yet to be provided under various schemes; State-wise; (d) details of telecom facilities provided in to the rural villages and households under Universal Service Obligation Funds (USOF) so far, State-wise; and the action plan prepared by the Government to cover the left out villages with telephone facilities and to improve the efficacy and efficiently of the existing

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) The  current  level  of  rural  and  urban  tele-density  in  the  country  is 49.82 and 152.57 respectively (as on 31.12.2015). The State-wise details are at Annexure I.
- 5,41,939 villages out of total 5,97,608 villages in the country are already covered with mobile services, leaving only 55,669 villages, i.e., 9.31%, without coverage. (Statewise  details  of  uncovered  villages  are Annexure-II ).  Since  the  demand  of  telecom services is price sensitive, the level of tele-density is also determined by the purchasing ability  of  the  consumers.  The  increase  in  rural  tele-density  has  gathered  momentum  in recent times but the wide gap between rural and urban tele-density can be explained by the difference in purchasing power of rural and urban consumers.
- (c) Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  has  provided  telephone  facilities  to 2,41,261 village panchayats out of 2,42,198 village panchayats. The state wise status of Gram Panchayats that have been provided with telephone facilities as on 31.12.2015 is at Annexure-III.
- (d) Various schemes have been implemented for provision of telecom facilities in the rural  and  remote  areas  of  the  country  with  the  financial  support  from  Universal  Service Obligation Fund (USOF) as below:
- (e) schemes?

Contd………2/-

- (i) 7,317  Mobile  towers  have  been  installed  with  the  financial  support  from  USOF under the Shared Mobile Infrastructure Scheme in villages or cluster of villages having  population  of  2000  or  more  and  not  having  mobile  coverage.  The infrastructure so created is capable of being shared by three service providers for provision  of  mobile  services.  The  scheme  was  implemented  during  the  period from  June,  2007  to  November,  2013.  The  State-wise  details  of  towers  installed under the scheme are enclosed as Annexure-IV.
- (ii) Agreements  were  signed  with  BSNL  and  RIL  [Reliance  Infocomm  Limited]  on 30.09.2004 for providing 40,694 Rural Community Phones (RCPs) [BSNL: 21,958, RIL: 18,736] in villages with population more than 2000 and not having Public Call Office (PCO) facility. All of these 40694 RCPs have been provided. [The scheme is closed].
- (iii) Agreements  were  signed  in  March  2005  with  M/s  BSNL,  Reliance  Infocomm Limited(RIL), Tata Teleservices Ltd.(TTL) and Tata Teleservices Ltd (Maharashtra)  [TTL  (MH)]  for  installation  of  individual  rural  household  Direct Exchange  Lines  (RDELs)  during  01.04.2005  and  31.03.2007,  in  eligible  1685 Short Distance Charging Areas (SDCAs) out of total 2647 SDCAs, where cost of providing  telephone  connection  was more than the revenue earned. About 79.3 lakhs RDELs have been provided under this scheme till the closure of the scheme on 31.03.2010.
- (iv) The  Rural  Wireline  Broadband  Scheme  was  implemented  to  provide  wire-line broadband  connectivity  to  rural  &  remote  areas.  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. State-wise details are given at AnnexureV.
- (e) Various  Schemes  are  being  implemented/planned  with  financial  support from USOF to cover the left out villages with telephone facilities, as below:
- (i) On 10.09.2014, the Government approved a proposal to implement a Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER). The Project 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.  The estimated cost of implementation is Rs. 5336.18 crore.  The Project would be funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
- (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. 1431 sites are radiating as on 15.02.2016.
- (iii) It is estimated that there are about 55,669 villages in the country that do not have mobile  coverage.  Mobile  coverage  to  these  uncovered  villages  is  likely  to  be provided  in  a  phased  manner,  subject  to  availability  of  financial  resources. Preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for providing mobile coverage to Himalayan  States  (Jammu  &  Kashmir,  Himachal  Pradesh  and  Uttarakhand), Western  Border  States  (Rajasthan,  Gujarat,  Punjab  and  Haryana),  Andaman  & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Goa, Tamil Nadu, is in progress.

## State-wise details of Rural and Urban Tele-density

| S.No.   | Service area         | Rural teledensity in %as on 31.12.2015.   | Urban teledensity in %as on 31.12.2015.   | Total teledensity in %as on 31.12.2015.   |
|---------|----------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| 1       | Andhra Pradesh       | 50.95                                     | 178.38                                    | 86.53                                     |
| 2       | Assam                | 41.16                                     | 128.79                                    | 55.22                                     |
| 3       | Bihar                | 35.09                                     | 161.70                                    | 52.55                                     |
| 4       | Gujarat              | 64.74                                     | 143.25                                    | 97.58                                     |
| 5       | Haryana              | 58.22                                     | 130.92                                    | 84.42                                     |
| 6       | Himachal Pradesh     | 92.62                                     | 365.74                                    | 124.54                                    |
| 7       | Jammu & Kashmir      | 57.40                                     | 134.42                                    | 78.84                                     |
| 8       | Karnataka            | 53.27                                     | 179.76                                    | 102.33                                    |
| 9       | Kerala               | 61.56                                     | 215.32                                    | 100.52                                    |
| 10      | Madhya Pradesh       | 38.83                                     | 127.40                                    | 63.07                                     |
| 11      | Maharashtra          | 62.14                                     | 123.88                                    | 84.50                                     |
| 12      | North East           | 52.67                                     | 154.19                                    | 78.17                                     |
| 13      | Odisha               | 46.51                                     | 154.97                                    | 65.69                                     |
| 14      | Punjab               | 70.51                                     | 147.41                                    | 104.15                                    |
| 15      | Rajasthan            | 57.13                                     | 161.06                                    | 82.24                                     |
| 16      | Tamil Nadu           | 83.25                                     | 140.30                                    | 117.27                                    |
| 17      | Uttar Pradesh (East) |                                           |                                           |                                           |
| 18      | Uttar Pradesh (West) | 40.67                                     | 140.58                                    | 63.51                                     |
| 19      | West Bengal          | 49.35                                     | 133.01                                    | 61.40                                     |
| 20      | Kolkata              | #                                         | #                                         | 160.30                                    |
| 21      | Delhi                | #                                         | #                                         | 240.93                                    |
| 22      | Mumbai               | #                                         | #                                         | 149.45                                    |
|         | All India Total      | 49.82                                     | 152.57                                    | 81.85                                     |

## State-wise list of Uncovered Villages

| Sr.No.   | Name of the State/UT   | Total number of inhabited villages   |   No. of Uncovered Villages |
|----------|------------------------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh         | 16335                                |                        3812 |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh      | 5258                                 |                        2886 |
| 3.       | Assam                  | 25372                                |                        2885 |
| 4.       | Bihar                  | 39073                                |                        2534 |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh           | 19567                                |                        4041 |
| 6.       | Goa                    | 320                                  |                          65 |
| 7.       | Gujarat                | 17843                                |                        1275 |
| 8.       | Haryana                | 6642                                 |                           2 |
| 9.       | Himachal Pradesh       | 17882                                |                        2416 |
| 10.      | Jammu & Kashmir        | 6337                                 |                         460 |
| 11.      | Jharkhand              | 29492                                |                        5949 |
| 12.      | Karnataka              | 27397                                |                           0 |
| 13.      | Kerala                 | 1017                                 |                           0 |
| 14.      | Madhya Pradesh         | 51929                                |                        5926 |
| 15.      | Maharashtra            | 40959                                |                        4792 |
| 16.      | Manipur                | 2515                                 |                         610 |
| 17.      | Meghalaya              | 6459                                 |                        2389 |
| 18.      | Mizoram                | 704                                  |                         258 |
| 19.      | Nagaland               | 1400                                 |                         137 |
| 20.      | Odisha                 | 47675                                |                       10398 |
| 21.      | Punjab                 | 12168                                |                          91 |
| 22.      | Rajasthan              | 43264                                |                         770 |
| 23.      | Sikkim                 | 425                                  |                          23 |
| 24.      | Tamil Nadu             | 15049                                |                         113 |
| 25.      | Telangana              | 10347                                |                        1009 |
| 26.      | Tripura                | 863                                  |                           2 |
| 27.      | Uttar Pradesh          | 97814                                |                         266 |
| 28.      | Uttarakhand            | 15745                                |                        1876 |
| 29.      | West Bengal            | 37469                                |                         487 |
| 30.      | Andaman & Nicobar      | 684                                  |                         190 |
| 31.      | Puducherry             |                                      |                           0 |
| 32.      | Dadra & Nagar Haveli   |                                      |                           5 |
| 33.      | Daman & Diu            |                                      |                           1 |
| 34.      | Lakshadweep            |                                      |                           1 |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL                  | 597608                               |                       55669 |

## Annexure-II

## Annexure-III

## Status  of  Gram  Panchayats  connected  with  Telephone  facilities  by  BSNL  as  on 31.12.2015

| S.N   | Circle/State-Wise    | Total number of Gram Panchayats   | No. of Gram Panchayats provided with Telecom facilities   | No. of Non-feasible Gram Panchayats which are not provide with telephone facilities   |
|-------|----------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1     | Andaman & Nicobar    | 69                                | 69                                                        | 0                                                                                     |
| 2     | Andhra Pradesh       | 21870                             | 21747                                                     | 123                                                                                   |
| 3     | Assam                | 2283                              | 2283                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 4     | Bihar                | 8412                              | 8411                                                      | 1                                                                                     |
| 5     | Jharkhand            | 4562                              | 4562                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 6     | Gujarat              | 14855                             | 14843                                                     | 12                                                                                    |
| 7     | Haryana              | 6083                              | 6083                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 8     | Himachal Pradesh     | 3241                              | 3241                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 9     | Jammu & Kashmir      | 4128                              | 4116                                                      | 12 (1 in PoK)                                                                         |
| 10    | Karnataka            | 5713                              | 5713                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 11    | Kerala               | 978                               | 978                                                       | 0                                                                                     |
| 12    | Madhya Pradesh       | 23710                             | 23710                                                     | 0                                                                                     |
| 13    | Chhattisgarh         | 10757                             | 10576                                                     | 181                                                                                   |
| 14    | Maharashtra          | 28089                             | 28089                                                     | 0                                                                                     |
| 15    | North-East-I*        | 1038                              | 1038                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 16    | North-East-II #      | 1795                              | 1268                                                      | 527                                                                                   |
| 17    | Odisha               | 6236                              | 6155                                                      | 81                                                                                    |
| 18    | Punjab               | 12317                             | 12317                                                     | 0                                                                                     |
| 19    | Rajasthan            | 9177                              | 9177                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 20    | Tamil Nadu           | 13837                             | 13837                                                     | 0                                                                                     |
| 21    | Uttar Pradesh (East) | 37455                             | 37455                                                     | 0                                                                                     |
| 22    | Uttar Pradesh (West) | 14516                             | 14516                                                     | 0                                                                                     |
| 23    | Uttarakhand          | 7546                              | 7546                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
| 24    | West Bengal          | 3531                              | 3531                                                      | 0                                                                                     |
|       | Total                | 2,42,198                          | 2,41,261                                                  | 937 (1 in PoK)                                                                        |

*North East-I - Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura #North East-II - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur

## Annexure- IV

## State-wise Mobile Tower sites installed under USOF Scheme of Shared Mobile Infrastructure

| Sl. No.   | Name of State     | Total no. of sites commissioned as on 30.11.2013   |
|-----------|-------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh    | 327                                                |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh | 65                                                 |
| 3         | Assam             | 87                                                 |
| 4         | Bihar             | 453                                                |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh      | 553                                                |
| 6         | Gujarat           | 59                                                 |
| 7         | Haryana           | 12                                                 |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh  | 258                                                |
| 9         | Jammu & Kashmir   | 81                                                 |
| 10        | Jharkhand         | 273                                                |
| 11        | Karnataka         | 381                                                |
| 12        | Kerala            | 43                                                 |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh    | 933                                                |
| 14        | Maharashtra       | 956                                                |
| 15        | Manipur           | 69                                                 |
| 16        | Meghalaya         | 107                                                |
| 17        | Mizoram           | 43                                                 |
| 18        | Nagaland          | 50                                                 |
| 19        | Odisha            | 434                                                |
| 20        | Punjab            | 14                                                 |
| 21        | Rajasthan         | 403                                                |
| 22        | Sikkim            | 6                                                  |
| 23        | Tamilnadu         | 327                                                |
| 24        | Telangana         | 269                                                |
| 25        | Tripura           | 115                                                |
| 26        | Uttarakhand       | 184                                                |
| 27        | Uttar Pradesh     | 652                                                |
| 28        | West Bengal       | 163                                                |
| TOTAL     | TOTAL             | 7,317                                              |

## Annexure-V

## Telecom Circle-wise achievement under USOF's 'Rural Wireline Broadband Scheme'

| S. No.   | Telecom Circle            |   No. of Rural Exchanges | No. of Broadband Connections provided as on 31.01.2014   |
|----------|---------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | A & N                     |                       45 | 405                                                      |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh/ Telangana |                     2665 | 59647                                                    |
| 3        | Assam                     |                      429 | 5067                                                     |
| 4        | Bihar                     |                     1000 | 6817                                                     |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh              |                      449 | 6743                                                     |
| 6        | Chennai                   |                      123 | 5230                                                     |
| 7        | Gujarat                   |                     1988 | 34315                                                    |
| 8        | Haryana                   |                      805 | 21012                                                    |
| 9        | Himachal                  |                      811 | 8188                                                     |
| 10       | Pradesh Jammu &           |                      209 | 3057                                                     |
| 11       | Kashmir Jharkhand         |                      291 | 3872                                                     |
| 12       | Karnataka                 |                     2217 | 20464                                                    |
| 13       | Kerala                    |                     1143 | 228741                                                   |
| 14       | Madhya                    |                     1982 | 25216                                                    |
| 15       | Pradesh Maharashtra       |                     4353 | 44200                                                    |
| 16       | North East I              |                      149 | 2374                                                     |
| 17       | North East II             |                      221 | 7872                                                     |
| 18       | Odisha                    |                      942 | 19828                                                    |
| 19       | Punjab                    |                     1217 | 37797                                                    |
| 20       | Rajasthan                 |                     1959 | 27,310                                                   |
| 21       | Tamil Nadu                |                     1182 | 40075                                                    |
| 22       | Uttar                     |                     2764 | 27811                                                    |
| 23       | Pradesh Uttarakhand       |                      341 | 6891                                                     |
| 24       | West Bengal               |                     1387 | 13413                                                    |
| TOTAL    | TOTAL                     |                    28672 | 6,56,345                                                 |