(a) whether it is a fact that there is a severe shortage of
SIM cards to meet the demands of BSNL mobile phones in
Karnataka;
(b) if so, the details thereof, District-wise;
(c) the steps taken by the Union Government to address the
problem;
(d) the target fixed in this regard for the year 2004-05,
State-wise, particularly in Karnataka; and
(e) extent to which the target has been achieved so far?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) & (b) Although adequate quantity of SIMs are available,
due to capacity constraints, further release of cellular
connections has been temporarily controlled. However, 709362
mobile connections are working in the State of Karnataka.
(c) Augmentation of the cellular network by an additional
capacity of 9.6 lakh lines is in progress and likely to be
available progressively from June 2005 onwards.
(d) & (e) The state-wise details of targets assigned and
achieved in 2004-05 are given in the Annexure.
ANNEXURE
STATE-WISE TARGET/ACHIEVEMENT FOR 2004-05 Sl. State Target 2004- Achievement 2004- No. 05 05 1 Andaman and Nicobar 6900 3245 2 Andhra Pradesh 459700 246790 3 Assam 168600 125805 4 Bihar 278300 84660 5 Chhattisgarh 67400 22817 6 Gujarat 563000 184836 7 Himachal Pradesh 89200 30175 8 Haryana 247000 94256 9 Jammu & Kashmir 49100 110640 10 Jharkhand 112000 63134 11 Kerala 428000 428188 12 Karnataka 346400 379166 13 Maharashtra including Goa 719500 242255 14 Madhya Pradesh 202200 120322 15 North East-I (Tripura, 46650 37996 Meghalaya, Mizoram) 16 North East-II (Arunachal 46650 37143 Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur) 17 Orissa 225200 129541 18 Punjab 429000 91258 19 Rajasthan 412700 150105 20 Tamil Nadu 639300 735249 21 Uttaranchal 109900 46393 22 Uttar Pradesh 767600 491888 23 West Bengal including 585700 337378 Sikkim Total 7000000 4193240***********