(a) whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made recommendations on expansion and improvement of telecom services in various States;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government to improve and strengthen telecom and high speed internet services in rural zones in various States including Chhattisgarh?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) & (b) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) has issued two recommendations on “ Improving Telecom Services in the North –Eastern States: An Investment Plan” and “ Improving Telecom Services in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep” on dated 26.09.2013 and 22.07.2014 respectively.
(c) Various Schemes are being implemented/planned to improve and strengthen telecom in rural and remote areas in the country including the state of Chhattisgarh, as below :
(i) 2199 mobile towers are being set up in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States with a total estimated cost of Rs.3567.58 crore. As on 11.7.2016, 2032 sites are radiating.
(ii) On 10.09.2014, the Government approved a proposal to implement a Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region (NER). The Project envisages to provide mobile coverage to 8621 identified uncovered villages by installation of about 6673 mobile towers, installation of 321 mobile tower sites along National Highways and strengthening of transmission network in the NER.
(iii) USOF schemes for Creation of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Infrastructure in North-East are implemented to provide sufficient back-haul capacity to integrate the voice and data traffic from the access network in the rural areas to their core network by strengthening OFC infrastructure to provide for OFC network augmentation between the Block Head Quarters(BHQs) and District Head Quarters(DHQs) in North-East. In Assam, the scheme is being implemented by BSNL. 308 nodes have been installed out of targeted 354 nodes. In North East-I Telecom Circle(Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram) the scheme is being implemented by M/s RailTel. 123 nodes out of targeted 188 nodes have been connected on OFC (101 nodes have been commissioned). In North East-II Telecom Circle(Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland) the scheme is being implemented by M/s RailTel. 45 nodes out of targeted 407 nodes have been connected on OFC (38 nodes commissioned).
(iv) Government has launched the BharatNet/ National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) scheme through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) namely Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) to connect all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats(GPs) in the country utilizing optical fibres of 3 PSUs viz. BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid. The status of BharatNet/NOFN work of 1,00,000 Gram Panchayats under phase-1 is as given below:-
<pre>
Items Planned Achieved
Tender Finalised (GPs) 1,00,000 93,802
Work Started (GPs) 1,00,000 85,247
Pipe laid (GPs) 1,00,000 64,875
OFC pulled (GPs) 1,00,000 54,023
Connectivity (GPs) 1,00,000 7,312
Pipe laid (Km) 2,30,000 1,50,540
OFC pulled (km) 2,30,000 1,25,642
</pre>
(v) For providing broadband connectivity to rural & remote areas, USOF has signed an agreement with BSNL on 20.01.2009 under the Rural Wireline Broadband Scheme to provide wireline broadband connectivity to rural & remote areas by leveraging the existing rural exchange infrastructure and copper wireline network. Under this scheme, a total of 6,56,345 broadband connections and 15,671 kiosks have been provided.