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. (State-wise 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:
(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 Annexure-V.
(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.
Annexure-I
State-wise details of Rural and Urban Tele-density
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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) 40.67 140.58 63.51
18 Uttar Pradesh (West)
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
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Annexure-II
State-wise list of Uncovered Villages
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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 597608 55669
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Annexure-III
Status of Gram Panchayats connected with Telephone facilities by BSNL as on 31.12.2015
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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)
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*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
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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 7,317
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Annexure-V
Telecom Circle-wise achievement under USOF’s “Rural Wireline Broadband Scheme”
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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 Pradesh 811 8188
10 Jammu & Kashmir 209 3057
11 Jharkhand 291 3872
12 Karnataka 2217 20464
13 Kerala 1143 228741
14 Madhya Pradesh 1982 25216
15 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 Pradesh 2764 27811
23 Uttarakhand 341 6891
24 West Bengal 1387 13413
TOTAL 28672
6,56,345
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