(a) whether the Cellular Mobile Telephone Service is proposed to be provided in all the cities in the country;
(b) if so, the cities where the facility has been provided so far;
(c) the time by which all the cities would be provided with the Cellular mobile Telephone Services; and
(d) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRIMATI SUMITRA MAHAJAN)
(a) to (d): As per terms and conditions of the Licences granted for Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS), 90% of the Service Area in Metros and at least 10% of the District Headquarters (DHQs) in a Telecom Circle shall be covered in the first year. 50% of the DHQs shall be covered within three years of effective date of the licence. The Licensees are also permitted to cover any other city/town in a District in lieu of a DHQ. The decision as to which DHQ is to be covered and further expansion beyond 50% of the DHQs is left to the licensee, base on its business decision.
The list of DHQs/cities covered with CMTS so far is being compiled and will be laid on the Table of the House.