Question : Telecommunication Facilities in Villages

(a) whether all the villages in the country including tribal areas of various States have been linked with telecommunication facilities particularly mobile telephone facilities and if so, the details of the number of such villages and tribal areas thereof, State/UT-wise;

(b) if not, the reasons therefor along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard;

(c) the target fixed and achieved by the Government and action plan, if any, for extension of telecommunication services across all the villages during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise; and

(d) the funds allocated/spent by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND
ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)


(a) to (d) According to the data collected from the telecom service providers in 2018, it is estimated that out of 5,97,618 inhabited villages(as per the Census 2011) in the country, 5,54,530 villages are covered with mobile services and 43088 villages are not covered by mobile services. The State/ Union Territories (UT)-wise list of uncovered villages is at Annexure-I.

‘BharatNet’ is being implemented to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh GPs) in the country. As on date, 3,37,515 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid, thereby connecting 1,28,870 GPs by OFC. A total of 120,341 GPs are service ready. State/UT-wise status of service ready GPs under BharatNet project is as at Annexure-II.


The reasons for not having mobile services in all villages include, inter-alia, remote and tough terrain, areas diversely located with scattered population and commercially non-viable operations. However, mobile coverage in the uncovered villages is being provided in a phased manner. Following projects are being implemented by the Government for providing/facilitating telecom services:

i. Under Left Wing Extremism affected areas Phase-II project, Government has approved installation of 3465 mobile towers for providing mobile connectivity.
ii. Providing mobile connectivity in 361 villages of border areas, Ladakh and Kargil Region and other priority areas.
iii. A Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for mobile connectivity in the North Eastern Region to provide mobile coverage in uncovered villages, along with National Highways and to strengthen transmission network
iv. Laying of submarine optical fibre cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for providing connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands
v. Satellite Bandwidth Augmentation upto 4 Gbps for Andaman & Nicobar Islands
vi. Mobile connectivity to cover uncovered villages and along National Highway (NH 223) in Andaman & Nicobar Islands
vii. Augmentation of Satellite bandwidth from 318 Mbps to 1.71 Gbps for Lakshadweep Islands

The State/UT wise details of funds disbursed by Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) for BharatNet project is at Annexure-III. The State/UT-wise details of the amount of funds utilized and number of towers set up by the Government from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of mobile services in the country during the last three years is at Annexure-IV.