Question : MOBILE SERVICES IN WEST BENGAL

(a) whether the coverage of the mobile telephone services is very limited and their standard is very poor in most parts of the country specially in various districts of West Bengal;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to improve the mobile services in the country including West Bengal;

(c) the number of new towers installed for the purpose in West Bengal so far, district-wise; and

(d) the number of new mobile subscribers added on during the current year in comparison to last year?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)

(a) & (b) Licence Agreement for provision of Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS) as well as Unified Access Services (UAS), inter-alia, provides that :-

“ In Telecom Circles, atleast 10% of the District Headquarters (DHQs) will be covered in the first year and 50% of the DHQs will be covered within three years of effective date of Licence. The licensee shall also be permitted to cover any other town in a District in lieu of the DHQ. Coverage of a DHQ/town would mean that at least 90% of the area bounded by the Municipal limits should get the required street as well as in-building coverage. The DHQ shall be taken as on the effective date of Licence. The choice of DHQs/towns to be covered and further expansion beyond 50% DHQs/ towns shall lie with the Licensee depending on their business decision. There is no requirement of mandatory coverage of rural areas.”

The state owned Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is providing Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) based mobile service in 5234 cities/towns in the country. In addition BSNL has also covered major National and State Highways/Religious and Tourist places with its mobile service. BSNL has covered all the DHQs of West Bengal State. Cellular Mobile Telephone Service of BSNL in general is meeting the Quality of Service (QoS) parameters set by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

(c) The number of BTS (Base Transceiver Station) commissioned by BSNL during the current financial year in West Bengal State – District-wise is given in the Annexure.

(d) 17.5 million mobile subscribers have been added in the country during current financial year (April – October 2005) in comparison to 18.53 million mobile subscriber added during financial year 2004-2005.

Annexure

District-wise number of BTS (Base Transceiver Station) of BSNL commissioned as on 31.03.2005 and during 2005-06 in West Bengal

Sl.No.	Name of	BTS/Tower	BTS/Tower	District	commissioned	commissioned	as on	in 2005-06	31.03.2005
1	Howrah	28	4
2	Hugli	29	16
3	South 24	60	8	Pargana
4	North 24	49	14	Pargana
5	Burdwan	48	-
6	Bankura	13	1
7	Coochbehar	07	-
8	Jalpaiguri 18	-
9	Darjeeling 36	-
10	North	09	-	Dinajpur
11	South	07	-	Dinajpur
12	Malda	14	-
13	Mursidabad	21	1
14	Nadia	17	-
15	Purulia	09	-
16	West	16	1	Midnapore
17	East	20	1	Midnapore
18	Birbhum	13
19	Kolkata	40	10