(a) whether the Government are aware of the fact that the Telephone authorities refuse to give telephone connections to rural habitations on the ground that new post/poles need to be erected;
(b) whether any criteria have been fixed for erecting new post/poles for giving telephone connections; and
(c) if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRIMATI SUMITRA MAHAJAN)
(a) New telephone connections are not refused on the ground that new posts/poles are to be erected.
(b)&(c): Normally new telephone connections are provided by extending underground cable from telephone exchange to the distribution point of the service area and thereafter depending on the necessity, overhead line is erected restricted to a maximum of 2 to 3 spans only. At present , 5 pair underground cables are also being used to minimise erection of posts. Also as per the present policy wireless in local loop (WLL) system is inducted into rural network, especially for long distance connections in remote and scattered areas, thereby eliminating the necessity of erecting posts.