Question : Mobile Towers in Panchayat Areas

(a) whether the Government is taking any steps to install telephone towers in every panchayat of the country in order to meet the demands of digitalisation and strengthening of rural banking system;

(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) whether the Government has taken any steps to provide mobile towers in the remote villages of the country where such towers are not available till date and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(d) the time by which the mobile towers are proposed to be installed in every remote village and each panchayat area of the country?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) BharatNet is being implemented in every Gram Panchayat of the country through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), satellite and micro wave for providing high speed broadband connectivity. This facilitate the delivery of various applications for e-health, e-education, e-governance, e-banking etc.

(c) & (d) According to data collected from Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in 2014, it is estimated that there are 52,685 villages (as per census 2011 data) that do not have mobile services. Mobile coverage to these uncovered villages is being provided in a phased manner. At present, the Department has the following programmes for provision of telecom services in left out villages/areas of the country:

(i) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER): On 10.09.2014, the Government approved a proposal to implement a Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER) to provide mobile coverage to 8621 identified uncovered villages by installing 6673 mobile towers and 321 mobile towers along with National Highways.

(ii) Mobile Communication Services in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas: Government had approved the project on 20.08.2014 to provide Mobile services in 2199 locations identified by Ministry of home Affairs and on 20.7.2016, Government had also approved to install additional 156 mobile towers under LWE Phase-I project. As on date total 2335 mobile towers are radiating. Further, Department has received a list of 4,072 mobile locations from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in LWE affected areas. Telecom Commission, in its meeting held on 21.12.2017, has recommended the proposal for installing 4072 mobile towers, for which Cabinet approval is being sought.

(iii) Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands: Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan to provide mobile coverage in 172 uncovered villages and along National Highways and to augment the Satellite Bandwidth for Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

(iv) BharatNet: BharatNet is being implemented in a phased manner for providing broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country.