Question : Mobile Towers

(a) the number of mobile towers installed by BSNL and MTNL in the country, State/UT-wise along with the number of the said towers which are yet to be made operational, State/UT-wise along with the time by which the said towers are to be made functional;

(b) whether these towers are adequate to offer smooth and uninterrupted telecom services offered by the said companies, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) the other steps taken by the Government to ensure uninterrupted and smooth mobile services in view of rapidly increasing country’s telecom subscriber base;

(d) whether the Government has received any complaint pertaining to such towers posing threat to public amenities, if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard; and

(e) whether the Government has laid down any norms regarding requisite number of mobile towers for prescribed subscriber base, and if so, the details thereof along with the number of companies violating the said norms and the action taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) State/UT-wise details of mobile towers is at Annexure-I.
(b)&(c) So far BSNL is concerned, it has wide spread network covering the entire country. BSNL has covered District Headquarters as well as 434220 villages. Details is as per Annexure-II. The provision of mobile network being capital intensive, it can be done only in phased manner on techno commercial viability/feasibility. For further improvement of mobile services, BSNL keeps on expanding its network periodically. Presently Phase VII+ is under roll out and another tender of Phase VIII-4 is under evaluation.
Contd…2/-


-2-
So far MTNL is concerned, existing towers are inadequate for smooth and uninterrupted telecom services. MTNL has taken following steps to improve its 2G and 3G mobile network capabilities and provide better quality of service to its customers:
(i) Expansion of GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) / 3G RF network in Delhi: For expansion of mobile network, purchase order for 1080 number of 3G sites for higher data handling capacity has been placed.
(ii) 3G Network Up-Gradation in Mumbai: To upgrade the existing 3G network in Mumbai to make it a high speed network of ‘HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access) version’, MTNL has placed purchase order. After the proposed up-gradation, the customers will get a download speed of 21.1 Mbps & upload speed of 5.76 Mbps which will be 6 times faster than present download speed and 10 times faster than present upload speed.
(iii) Microwave Backhaul Connectivity: Purchase order for adding 1554 Microwave Hops in Delhi and 470 in Mumbai has been placed to augment and improve the mobile network.

(d) In case of EMF(Electro Magnetic Field) emissions related complaints, the same are handled by the concerned TERM(Telecom Enforcement, Resource & Monitoring)Cell in whose jurisdiction the case pertains. In case of non-compliance of the prescribed guidelines of DoT(Department of Telecommunications) in respect to EMF emissions, the financial penalty of Rs.Ten lakhs per BTS(Base Transceiver Station) is imposed on all the TSPs(Telecom Service Providers) present on the site alongwith shut-down of the site if the non-compliance persists for a month.

In case of complaints related to non-observance of applicable by-laws and regulations of local bodies such as State Governments, Municipal Corporations, Gram Panchayats or any other local authority, the same is handled by concerned authorities.

(e) No norms have been prescribed for setting up of mobile tower for a prescribed subscriber base. BTS are established at mobile towers by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) at suitable locations, as per their Radio Frequency (RF) network planning for proper coverage of the area and as per their service requirement to fulfil the license conditions.



Annexure-I
<pre>
S.N. Name of the Circle No. of places where mobile towers have been erected as on 31.12.2016 Number of places where mobile towers yet to be made functional as on 31.12.2016.
A BSNL:
1 Andman & Nicobar 152 0
2 Andhra Pradesh 5741 0
3 Assam 1341 0
4 Bihar 1903 8
5 Chhattisgarh 1642 127
6 Gujrat 4578 19
7 Himachal Pradesh 957 14
8 Haryana 1557 0
9 J&K 1034 24
10 Jharkhand 1400 0
11 Kerla 4063 41
12 Karnataka 4049 0
13 Maharashtra 5880 81
14 Madhya Pradesh 4558 0
15 North East-I 625 12
16 North East-II 676 23
17 Odisha 2400 123
18 Punjab 2319 15
19 Rajasthan 3942 182
20 Tamilnadu 4824 13
21 UP East 4782 80
22 UP West 2317 30
23 Uttranchal 1033 40
24 West Bengal 2258 72
25 Kolkatta TD 869 5
26 Channai TD 1515 0
Total 66415 909
B MTNL:
1 Delhi 1853 Nil
2 Mumbai 1670 Nil
Total 3523 Nil
</pre>

ANNEXURE-II
No. of villages covered by BSNL’s Cellular Mobile Services as on 31-01-2017
<pre>
Sl. No. Circle No of Villages covered with cellular services as on 31-01-2017
1 Haryana 4477
2 Himachal Pradesh 17525
3 Jammu & Kashmir 5303
4 Punjab 11321
5 Rajasthan 26363
6 Uttarakhand 13507
7 Uttar Pradesh(East) 71852
8 Uttar Pradesh(West) 14315
9 Andaman & Nicobar 323
10 Assam 20291
11 Bihar 28045
12 Kolkata (TD) 437
13 Jharkhand 22398
14 North East I 2799
15 North East II 5022
16 Odisha 27897
17 West Bengal 25516
18 Chhattisgarh 12306
19 Gujarat 13238
20 Maharashtra 20975
21 Madhya Pradesh 30470
22 Andhra Pradesh 22633
23 Chennai (TD) 1515
24 Kerala 1489
25 Karnataka 22041
26 Tamilnadu 12162
Total 434220
</pre>


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