THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA)
(a) At present around 65% of the geographical area of the country has got mobile coverage.
The number of mobile telephone subscribers in Uttar Pradesh is 27820571 as on 29.02.2008.The
service area-wise number of mobile telephone subscribers is enclosed as Annexure.
(b) Government has issued 120 new Unified Access Service Licenses in January 2008 for
increasing competition which will help to roll out mobile services in uncovered areas. As per
terms and conditions of the licence alecensee has to cover 50% of district headquarters in the
service area within three years of effective date of the licence. In order to expedite the roll
out of these services in rural and remote areas, the Government is providing a total subsidy of
approximately Rs. 587.88 crores over a period of 5 years through Universal Service Obligation
Fund for a scheme for setting up and managing 7871 infrastructure sites (towers) in 500 districts
spread over 27 States where there is no existing Fixed Wireless or mobile coverage.The
agreements, effective from 1st June, 2007 had been signed with successful bidders in May, 2007
and mobile services from these towers are likely to be launched in a phased manner by the end of
year 2008. 150 towers have been set up under this scheme till 29th February, 2008.
Further, BSNL has a tentative plan to add 126 lakh cellular mobile subscribers including 12.3
lakhs in Uttar Pradesh only during 2008-09. Bharti Airtel is planning to install 8 Mobile
Switching Centers, 4802 ns Receive sites during 2008-09. Other operators are also having similar
expansion plans.
(c) & (d) The mobile telephone service being provided by BSNL is working satisfactorily,
in general, meeting the Quality of Service (QoS) parameters as prescribed by the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India. However, congestion has been observed in its network sometimes at
some places for which BSNL has initiated action for augmentation of its network. This would
enhance coverage capacity and QoS. The network is also being continuously optimized for its
performance and monitoring of the network has been strengthened by BSNL to ensure performance
as per Quality of Service parameters as prescribed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
(e) & (f) The functioning of BSNL officials are being assessed regularly and their
performance is quite satisfactory resulting in overall positive growth of BSNL’s network across
the country.
