Lok Sabha Question No. 52 (STARRED), answered on 2016-07-20
Subject: Advertisement through Mobile
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RATTAN LAL KATARIA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.52 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH  JULY, 2016

## ADVERTISEMENT THROUGH MOBILE

## †*52. SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether marketing and advertising through mobile SMS and calls have been growing fast and India has been ranked third in spending on mobile advertisement;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the manner in which the mobile market has taken such a big leap;
- (c) whether any assessment made with respect to consumers using smart phones in India by the year 2020 and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether  India  has  formulated  an  ambitious  scheme  of  connecting  90% population of the country with broadband network by the year 2021 if so, the follow-up action taken thereof ?

## 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. 52  FOR 20 th  JULY, 2016 REGARDING 'ADVERTISEMENT THROUGH MOBILE'.

(a) & (b) The  Government  has  not  carried  out  any  study  regarding  growth  of marketing and advertising through mobile SMS and calls. However, as per the study carried  out  by  a  private  agency  namely  KPMG(Klynveld  Peat  Marwick  Goerdeler) titled KPMG-  FICCI  Indian  Media  and  Entertainment  Industry  Report  2016,  March 2016, as downloaded from the web on 16 th July, 2016, the mobile advertising spend in  India  is  around  Rs.  1620  Crores  in  2016  and  is  estimated  to  reach  around  Rs. 10210 crores by 2020. This includes spends through mobile SMS, calls and mobile internet.

(c) Government has not made any assessment with respect to consumers using smart  phones.  However,  as  per  the  report  of  a  private  agency  namely  CISCO,  as downloaded from the web on 16 th July,  2016,  the  smart  phones  in  India  were  23.9 crores in number in 2015. By 2020, the number of smart phones in India is expected to reach 70.2 crores.

(d) National  Optical  Fibre  Network  (NOFN)  project,  renamed  as  BharatNet,  is planned  to  establish  a  network  infrastructure by connecting  all  Gram  Panchayats (approx.  2.5  lakh)  in  the  country  through  Optical  Fibre  Cable  (OFC) by  using  an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media, for providing  broadband  connectivity  by  all  categories  of  service  providers  on  nondiscriminatory basis.

The project is planned to be implemented in three phases.  Under first phase of the project, 1 lakh Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  are  to be connected  by  laying underground  OFC  by  March  2017  while  under  second  phase,  connectivity  will  be provided  to remaining  1.5  lakh  GPs  in  the  country  using  an  optimal  mix  of underground  fibre,  fibre  over  power  lines,  radio  and  satellite  media,  by  December, 2018. Third phase will cover fibre between districts and blocks with underground OFC in  ring  architecture  for  a  state-of-the-art,  future-proof  network  for  5G  services  and Internet of Things (IoT) era. Phase III is targeted to be completed by 2023.

As on 09.07.2016, Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid to 54,023 Gram Panchayats (GPs) with a total length of 1,25,642 Km. Out of these, 7312 GPs have been provided with broadband connectivity.

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