(a) whether there is acute shortage of pre-paid SIM cards in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh;
(b) if so, the steps taken by the Union Government in this regard; and
(c) the time by which these cards are likely to be made available?
(a) whether there is acute shortage of pre-paid SIM cards in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh;
(b) if so, the steps taken by the Union Government in this regard; and
(c) the time by which these cards are likely to be made available?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) In Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), due to overwhelming demand, additional capacity rolled out in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh States have been subscribed to and as a result BSNL is facing cellular network capacity constraints in these States. Therefore, inspite of availability of SIM cards, the release of connections is being controlled temporarily.
(b) & (c) BSNL has plans to expend its cellular network by an additional capacity of 4.5 lakh lines in Madhya Pradesh and 1.5 lakh lines in Chhattisgarh States respectively during next year.