Question : Slow Speed of Internet

(a) whether the country is facing the problem of slow speed of internet and is placed at 119th position in the list of 140 countries in this regard and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether internet access in rural areas is just 21 percent due to this slow speed and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of the total number of panchayats in Chatra, Latehar and other districts of Jharkhand, Jalore, Sirohi and other districts of Rajasthan and in Gram Panchayats of Maharashtra including Madha and Latur parliamentary constituencies which are not connected with high speed internet and 4G mobile service, district-wise; and

(d) the steps being taken by the Government to connect all panchayats of the country including Rajasthan and Maharashtra with high speed internet and 4G mobile service under Pradhanmantri Gati shakti Scheme?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS
(SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) & (b) Certain organisations publish reports regarding global mobile internet speed ranking. However, such reports have not been validated. Internet speed depends on various factors like network, website being browsed, user device, etc. However as per Yearly Performance Indicators Report on Indian Telecom Sector”, released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, the average wireless data usage per data subscriber per month has been increasing from 9.85 Giga Byte (GB) to 11.76 GB to 14.04 GB respectively.

As per the “Yearly Performance Indicators Report on Indian Telecom Sector”, released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), as on 31st December, 2021 there are 37.25 Internet Subscribers per 100 population in the Rural areas and overall 60.46 total Internet Subscribers per 100 population in the country.

(c) & (d) BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to create network to connect all the Gram Panchayats (GPs)/Villages with high speed internet in the country including Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. This infrastructure is leased to Telecom Service providers / Internet Service Providers for provision of Mobile / internet connectivity in GPs/rural areas. District wise details of no. of Villages of Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Maharashtra covered with 4G Mobile services is given in Annexure.