(a) the number of Base Transreceiver Stations (BTS) functioning at present in Gujarat and Bihar, location-wise;
(b) whether the said BTS are sufficient as per existing requirement and demands;
(c) whether the Government proposes to set up new BTS in Gujarat and Bihar in order to increase mobile connectivity in Gujarat and Bihar; and
(d) if so, the details thereof, location-wise?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) The licenses for providing mobile services in the country are granted by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) at License Service Area (LSA) level. The State of Gujarat is a part of Gujarat LSA which includes Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli as well. Similarly, State of Bihar is a part of Bihar LSA which includes State of Jharkhand.
The data relating to Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) is maintained at LSA-level. The total number of BTSs installed in Gujarat LSA and Bihar LSA, as on 1st December 2018, are 125670 and 107305 respectively. By using public web-portal, Tarang Sanchar at https://tarangsanchar.gov.in, any person can find the location of each BTS for a given locality. Since a mobile tower is co-shared by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for installation of BTS, district-wise count of mobile tower locations for the States of Gujarat and Bihar are given at Annexure-I & II respectively.
(b), (c) & (d) TSPs install additional BTS on a continuous basis as per the changing traffic and customer requirements in the licensed area. Accordingly, during the period from March 2014 to November 2018, 85645 and 73129 additional BTS for 2G/3G/4G-LTE services have been added by TSPs in Gujarat and Bihar LSAs respectively.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has planned to add 7917 BTS in Gujarat, of which 3833 have already been installed. Similarly, 545 BTS have been planned for addition by BSNL in Bihar, of which 200 have already been installed. Besides, private TSPs have planned to further add over 6100 and 8700 BTS in Gujarat and Bihar respectively.
The Government has approved further BTS addition at 412 locations in Bihar, as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs, under the Scheme for provision of mobile services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas.