(a) whether the telephone and postal services in the hilly areas of the country especially
in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir are unsatisfactory;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to improve telecom and postal services
in the said areas?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI GURUDAS KAMAT)
(a) & (b) Madam, the telephone services provided by BSNL in hilly areas of the country
including the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir State are satisfactory. The hilly areas
of the country comprise of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, NE-I and
NE-II Telecom Circles.
The Ladakh Region of Jammu and Kashmir State gets cut off via road for about six months
i.e from November to April. During this period, telephone communication assumes very high
importance.
The following steps have been taken to improve and extend communication network in the area:
(i) Ladakh Region is connected to Srinagar on Optical Fibre (OF) Cable of about 400 Kms
length which passes through Jojila pass which remains snow covered during winter. The OF
cable in this area which gets damaged due to road clearing operation from snow has been
upgraded in the last Summer season.
(i) In addition, Ladakh Region is connected to Jammu via Satellite media where bandwidth is
limited.
(ii) BSNL has installed a Mobile MSC at Leh with which the requirement of bandwidth for mobile
calls have been reduced and thus communication in the Region can continue even in case of
interruption of OF cable.
(iii) Telecom service has been provided in remote villages and hamlets through Digital
Satellite Phone Terminals (DSPT). Uptil now, 113 such DSPTs had been commissioned in Ladakh
Region.
In so far as status of postal services in Jammu and Kashmir Circle is concerned, the services
are satisfactory. There are relaxed norms for opening of post offices in hilly areas of the
country. 15 Departmental Post Offices and 93 Extra Departmental Post Offices are catering to
the postal needs of the public of Ladakh region.
(c) The steps taken by BSNL for the development for telecom service for 2009-10 and
2010-11 in these Telecom Circles is given below.
Sl. No. Name of Circle Expansion plan WLL Expansion plan network GSM network (radio capacity) (radio capacity) 2009-10 2010-11 2009-10 2010-11
1 Assam 49,500 0 260,000 286,000 2 Himachal Pradesh 39,000 0 172,000 189,200 3 Jammu &Kashmir 26,250 0 214,000 235,400 4 NE-I 19,750 0 94,000 103,400 5 NE-II 33,250 0 114,000 125,400 6 Uttarakhand 36,750 0 314,000 345,400