(a) whether Rural Community Phones (RCPs) are provided in the rural areas of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
(c) whether the Government has fixed any target for providing RCPs to each and every remote village and habitations in the rural areas of the country;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the achievements made in this regard so far?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI MILIND DEORA)
(a) & (b) Yes Madam. Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) signed agreements on 30.09.2004 with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and M/s Reliance Infocomm Ltd. (RIL) for provision of 21,958 and 18,736 Rural Community Phones (RCPs) respectively i.e. Provision of Second (2nd) Public Telephone in 40,694 villages with population of more than 2000 and
not having Public Call Office (PCO) facility. All of the 40694 RCPs have already been provided. State-wise details of
RCPs provided under above USOF scheme are given at Annexure.
(c) to (e) There is no plan for providing RCPs i.e. 2nd Public Telephone in each and every remote village and habitations
in the rural areas of the country. However, it is planned to provide Village Public Telephone (VPT) facility i.e. at least one public telephone in all the inhabited revenue villages of Census 2001 villages with the financial support from USOF. 5,80,556 villages (out of 5,93,601 villages) i.e. 97.8% of the Census 2001 inhabited revenue villages of the country have already been provided with Village Public Telephone (VPT) facility till 31.03.2012.