Computerization of Postal Services

There has been continuous increase in the number of GSM telephone connections in the country. The number GSM telephone connections in the country which were 192.69 million as on 31.03.2008, now stands at 564.09 million as on 31.01.2011. The service area-wise detail for the last three years and current year is given in the Annexure.

As on 31.01.2011 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has covered 3,90,552 villages out of 6,10,885 villages with mobile coverage in its area of operation. Further BSNL plans to expand the mobile service coverage to the villages having population more than 1000 progressively in next three years subject to techno-commercial feasibility.

A scheme has been launched by USO Fund to provide subsidy support for setting up and managing 7363 number of infrastructure sites/towers (revised from 7871) in 500 districts spread over 27 States, for provision of mobile services in the specified rural and remote areas, where there was no existing fixed wireless or mobile coverage. As on 31.01.2011, 7251 towers i.e. about 98.48% towers have been set up under this scheme. The infrastructure so created is being shared by three service providers for provision of mobile services. As on 31.12.2010, 13866 Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been commissioned by Service Providers and mobile services are being provided.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Shri Sachin Pilot in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Bottom of Form

ANNEXURE

Service area-wise GSM telephone connections in the country

Sl. No.	Name of the service area	Number of GSM telephone connections
		As on 31.03.2008	As on 31.03.2009	As on 31.03.2010	As on 31.01.2011
1	Andhra Pradesh	14,156,780	21,934,044	30,983,374	40,672,342
2	Assam	3,812,373	5,661,467	8,563,617	10,645,023
3	Bihar	8,432,726	16,060,803	29,512,424	41,180,678
4	Gujarat	13,403,445	19,297,585	24,630,640	33,720,855
5	Haryana	4,537,001	7,191,982	9,075,246	12,604,479
6	Himachal Pradesh	1,922,303	2,805,339	4,425,392	6,219,974
7	Jammu & Kashmir	2,097,075	3,363,102	4,846,445	4,781,672
8	Karnataka	13,147,235	18,378,973	25,312,586	31,409,752
9	Kerala	8,508,486	12,566,231	17,769,072	23,101,754
10	Madhya Pradesh	9,419,349	15,041,683	23,422,235	33,130,317
11	Maharashtra (excl. Mumbai)	14,842,831	22,522,853	27,975,581	38,933,448
12	North East	2,039,271	3,224,507	5,107,819	6,280,852
13	Orissa	4,034,921	7,057,842	12,291,238	17,731,604
14	Punjab	9,332,430	11,807,586	14,754,064	18,757,340
15	Rajasthan	9,832,754	16,840,034	24,220,498	29,005,956
16	Tamil Nadu (excl. Chennai)	14,494,306	23,223,182	33,004,703	42,739,831
17	Uttar Pradesh (East)	11,948,699	20,957,237	32,128,259	43,804,977
18	Uttar Pradesh (West)	9,012,824	13,941,620	20,779,790	29,341,069
19	West Bengal (excl. Kolkata)	7,485,577	12,875,756	20,846,630	31,053,895
20	Kolkata	5,149,108	8,157,230	11,551,796	16,049,099
21	Chennai	5,665,198	7,350,574	8,836,250	10,243,745
22	Delhi	10,483,600	13,858,962	16,955,964	22,653,927
23	Mumbai	8,937,200	13,146,363	15,962,593	20,029,397
Total		192,695,492	297,264,955	422,956,216	564,091,986

Note:

1. The figures of West-Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (West) service areas also include GSM telephones of Andaman & Nicobar and Sikkim, Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal respectively as the private telecom service providers provide data service area-wise only.
2. Idea Telecommunications have included GSM phones for Chennai in Tamilnadu.
3. The Reliance Cmmunication Limited and Tata Teleservices have submitted the figures of wireless phones (WLL and GSM put-together).