New Delhi: At least 96.70 per cent of rural India has mobile network coverage, the Rajya Sabha was told today. Offering details, the Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, said out of 6,44,131 villages in the Country (as per Registrar General of India), around 6,22,840 villages have mobile coverage and out of these, 6,14,564 villages are covered with 4G mobile connectivity as on September 30, 2024.
Under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan’ (PM JANMAN) Mission of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 4,543 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) habitations were identified as mobile uncovered, and out of these, 1,136 PVTG habitations have been covered with mobile connectivity, Dr Sekhar said in a written reply to a question in this regard. The Minister informed that the government was implementing various schemes and projects under the ‘Digital Bharat Nidhi’ to expand telecom connectivity by installing mobile towers in rural, remote and hilly areas of the country including PVTG habitations.
In all 1,018 mobile towers under various ‘Digital Bharat Nidhi’ funded mobile projects were sanctioned to provide 4G coverage to PVTG habitations with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,014 crore as of October 31, 2024.
Dr Sekhar further informed the Upper House of Parliament that as of October 31, 2024, 5G services have been rolled out in all States and Union Territories across the country, and, at present, 5G services are available in 779 of the 783 districts in the country. Further, more than 4.6 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed in the country.
The Minister highlighted the measures taken by the government for the proliferation of 5G services. They included the following:
- Assignment of sufficient spectrum for mobile services through auction.
- Series of financial reforms which resulted in the rationalization of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) and Bank Guarantees (BGs).
- Spectrum sharing, trading and surrender have been permitted for the efficient use of spectrum.
- Simplification of Procedure for SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations) clearance.
- Notification of Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules and the launch of the PM GatiShakti Sanchar portal has resulted in streamlining of RoW permissions and expeditious clearance for the installation of telecom infrastructure.
- Provision has been made in RoW Rules for time-bound permission for the usage of street furniture for the installation of small cells and telecommunication lines.
With the aforementioned government measures, Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have expanded the 5G services across the country and have gone beyond the minimum rollout obligations, as prescribed in the Notice Inviting Application (NIA) for spectrum auction, Dr Sekhar said, adding that expansion of mobile services beyond these obligations depends on the techno-commercial consideration of the TSPs.
The Minister mentioned that for the nationwide rollout of 5G technology, the government assigned spectrum for 5G services to Telecom Service Providers through auction in August 2022. Thereafter, the 5G services were launched on October 1, 2022.
– global bihari bureau
