Question : EXPANSION OF BROADBAND SERVICES

(a) whether more than fifty percent of the rural areas in the country are yet to be covered under broadband services and if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(b) whether all Gram Panchayats in the country will be connected by National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by 2016 or the Government has decided to advance the deadline for its completion and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether NOFN lacks a concrete plan to connect block headquarters to district headquarters and if so, the manner in which Gram Panchayats would actually get broadband service; and

(d) the details of panchayats, State-wise, where broadband services have already been provided under the programme?

THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a)As per Information provided by the Telecom Regularity Authority of India (TRAI) broadband connection as on 31.12.2014 in rural area were 17.95 million out of a total of 85.74 million subscribers nationally. Telecom service area wise broadband subscribers in rural areas and urban areas as on 31.12.2014 are at Annexure-A.

(b) All Gram Panchayats in the country are targeted to be connected under NOFN for by providing broadband connectivity in a phased manner by December 2016.

(c) Government User Network (GUN) overlay over the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) envisages leasing of dark fibre from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for providing broadband connectivity from the District headquarters to the Block headquarters

 (d) 590 Gram Panchayats have been provided with broadband connectivity. State-wise details are as under: Sl. No.	State	Number of GPs provided with broadband connectivity 1	Andhra Pradesh	15 2	Karnataka	51 3	Kerala	480 4	Rajasthan	30 5	Tripura	14	Total	590