Rural telecommunication in India by Pradeep Kumar Research Scholar, Department of Extension Education, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi- 221005 (U.P.) Email: pradeep.prasar@gmail.com  Mobile No.: 09696112322

1. Rural Telecommunication in India
Supervisor
Dr. O.P. Mishra
Presented by
Pradeep Kumar
Research Scholar,
Department of Extension
Education, Institute of Agricultural
Sciences, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi- 221005 (U.P.)
Email: pradeep.prasar@gmail.com
Mobile No.: 09696112322

2. Rural Telecommunication in India

3. Contents:
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


Introduction
Process of Telecommunication
Indian Telecom Sector
Twelfth Plan Targets for the Telecommunication Sector
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Present Status of the Telecommunication Sector
Recent Policy Initiatives in Telecom Sector
Mobile Technology and Telecommunication
Kisan Call Centre Services and SMS portal
Rural Broadband Kiosks and NeGP
Rural telephony
Telecom Service Providers
Rural Connectivity Challenge in India
Benefits of Rural Telephony
Conclusion

4. Introduction
 Tele
is Greek word meaning distance and
communication is started from the Latin word
Communis which means common
 According to Roger and Shoemaker (1971)
communication is the process by which message are
transfer from source to receiver.
 Telecommunication is defined as the sharing the
feeling to those people who are neared or far away
from us. Telecommunication is the transmission of
messages, over significant distances, for the purpose
of communication

5. Process of Telecommunication
Source
Message
Receiver
Channel
(Mobile, Internet, Radio, Television)
Feed back

6. Indian Telecom Sector
 Phase I- Pre-Liberalization Era (1980-89)
 Phase II- Post Liberalization Era (1990-99)
 Phase III- Post 2000

8. Present Status of the Telecommunication Sector (As
on December 31, 2012)
 Indian telecom network is second largest in the world






after China.
The country has 895.51 million telephone connections,
including 864.72 million wireless telephone connections.
Overall tele-density in the country is 73.34%.
Urban tele-density is 149.55%, whereas rural teledensity is 39.90%.
The share of wireless telephones in total telephones is
96.56%.
The share of private sector in total telephones is 85.51%.
Number of Broadband connections is 14.98 million.

9. Twelfth Plan Targets for the Telecommunication Sector
 Provision of 1200 million connections by 2017.
 Mobile access to all villages and increase rural tele-density to
70 per cent by 2017.
 Broadband connection of 175 million by 2017.
 Commissioning of National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN)
 Make available additional 300 MHz of spectrum for IMT
services
 Making India a hub for telecom equipment manufacturing by
incentivising domestic manufacturers with thrust on
IPR, product development and commercialisation.
 Provide preferential market access for indigenously
manufactured products.
 To increase domestic manufactured products in telecom
network to the extent of 60 per cent with value addition of 45
per cent by 2017.
 Adoption of green policy in Telecom and incentivise use of
renewable energy sources
.

10. Recent Policy Initiatives in Telecom Sector
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
All villages shall receive telecom facilities.
National Long Distance Service (NLD): open for unrestricted
entry.
The International Long Distance Services (ILDS): open to
competition.
The basic services: open to competition.
4th cellular operator (over existing 3, 1 each in 4 metros & 13
circles) permitted.
Policies allowing private participation in several new
services: Global Mobile Personal
Communication by Satellite (GMPCS), digital Public Mobile
Radio Trunked Service (PMRTS) and voice Mail/Audio
text/Unified messaging WLL for telephone connections in
urban, semi-urban and rural areas.

11. Continue…
8. Disinvestment of 2 public sector telecom undertakings, VSNL
and HTL.
9. Steps to fulfill Universal Service Obligation (USO) funding and
administration.
10. A decision to permit Community Phone Service for each
panchayat.
11. Multiple Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) licensing guidelines
announced.
12. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) allowed to set up
International Internet Gateways & both Satellite & landing
stations for submarine optical fiber cables.
13. Two categories of infrastructure providers have been allowed
to provide end-to-end Bandwidth and dark fiber, right of
way, towers and duct space. Guidelines by the Govt. to open
up Internet Telephony.

12. Mobile Technology and Telecommunication
 Mobile technology refers to technology that is portable. In
this since of the term mobile technology includes: mobile
phones and smart phones end phones with more
advanced capacities, laptop computer and global
positioning system devices and so on
 Telecommunication technology defined in terms technical
features and standards of services delivered to the
consumers

13. Kisan Call Centre Services
 In case of mobile phone based services central and state
Government and private players are increasingly tapping into this
widely available medium.
 The Department of Agriculture& Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of
Agriculture, Govt. of India launched Kisan Call Centers on January
21, 2004 across the country to deliver extension services to the
farming community.
 The purpose of these call centers is to respond to issues raised by
farmers, instantly, in the local language. There are call centers for
every state which are expected to handle traffic from any part of
the country. Queries related to agriculture and allied sectors are
being addressed through these call centers.
 In the private sector, a good example is Bharti- IFFICO’s joint
venture whereby cheap mobile handsets costing less and more
number of mobile values added services such as free daily voice
messages on marketing prices for their produce, farming
technology, weather forecasts (Agro met advisory services), dairy
farming, fertilizers availability, plant protection etc.

14. Kisaan SMS Portal
 During celebrations 85th ICAR Foundation Day, Hon’ble
President of India launched on 16.07.2013 a SMS Portal
for Farmers
 Created by the Department of Agriculture &
Cooperation, Government of India Officers, Scientists and
Experts
of
Department
of
Agriculture
&
Cooperation,
Indian
Council
of
Agriculture
Research, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying &
Fisheries, India Meteorological Department and Food
grain Procurement Agencies will use this portal for
disseminating relevant information, giving topical &
seasonal advisories and providing services through SMSs
to farmers in language of the State.

15. Rural Broadband Kiosks
 Kisok are meant for access to basic browsing and
various types of commercial values added services
including entertainment, Information, tele-education
and telemedicine.
 Mobile and broadband content have shown a healthy
demand from villagers for Agriculture, marketing teleeducation and e-health services.

16. NeGP
 Launched in May 18, 2006
to improve public service
delivery
 The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been
formulated by the Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).
The Union Government approved the NeGP, comprising of
27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs)
 "Make all Government services accessible to the common
man in his locality, through common service delivery
outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of
such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs
of the common man”.

17. COMMON SERVICE CENTRE
17

18. Rural Telephony
 Village Public Telephones (VPTs)
 BSNL has covered 5,77,516 villages as per census 2001 with
VPT facility in the country up to 31.12.2012 out of the
5,93,601 inhabited villages.
 BSNL has entered into agreement with Universal Service
Obligation Fund (USOF), DoT for provision of VPTs in 62,302
(Revised) undisputed, undisturbed, accessible and inhabited
villages having population more than 100 as per Census 1991
in the country. 47 VPTs have been provided during 2012-13
(up to December, 2012).
 BSNL has entered into an agreement with USOF, for
provisioning of VPT facility in 62,443
 newly identified uncovered inhabited villages of Census
2001. 1306 VPTs have been provided during the current year
up to December, 2012.

19. BHARAT NIRMAN II - Rural Teledensity
A. Rural Teledensity
Sl.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Circle/State
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR
ANDHRA PRADESH
ASSAM
BIHAR
CHHATTISGARH
GUJARAT
HARYANA
HIMACHAL PRADESH
JAMMU & KASHMIR
JHARKHAND
KARNATAKA
KERALA
MADHYA PRADESH
MAHARASHTRA (including
16.57
15.22
9.36
9.17
1.81
25.21
28.10
40.47
16.72
1.44
14.36
35.43
11.07
Percentage of
Rural
Teledensity as
on 28.02.2011
31.75%
33.19%
23.36%
26.41%
2.77%
45.81%
51.36%
68.68%
29.13%
2.35%
34.26%
52.65%
28.95%
21.70
45.25%
Percentage of Rural
Teledensity as on
31.03.2009

20. Continue...
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
NORTH-EAST- I (comprising
Meghalaya, Mizoram &
Tripura)
NORTH-EAST- II (comprising
Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur
& Nagaland)
ORISSA
PUNJAB
RAJASTHAN
TAMIL NADU
UTTARAKHAND
UTTAR PRADESH - [East]
UTTAR PRADESH - [West]
WEST BENGAL (including
Sikkim)
KOLKATA
CHENNAI
DELHI
MUMBAI
14.67
50.34%
3.69
7.78%
12.55
33.11
16.71
25.62
6.04
28.07%
55.45%
38.14%
47.53%
9.46%
10.24
26.47%
13.50
35.22%
-
-

21. Telecom Service Providers
1.
Public Sector:
A.) Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (M.T.N.L.) for
cities of Bombay & Delhi
B.) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (B.S.N.L.) for the rest
of India: BSNL has managed to honor obligation by
providing connectivity to 90% of the rural population

22. Continue…
2. Private Operators:
A) Bharti Airtel: It is the largest operator and would extend its
coverage to more than 4,000 towns and adjoining villages.
B) Reliance Communications: It currently provides services in
4,300 towns and claims to have connected all the adjoining
villages in these towns.
C) Tata Tele Services Limited (TTSL ): It currently claims to have
over 8% of the rural customer base. Provides Tata Indicom,
Tata DoCoMo, Virgin (GSM) & Virgin (CDMA).
D) Idea Cellular
E) Vodafone Essar
F) Aircel
G) Uninor
H) HFCL Infotel and others like Spice Telecom, Videocon Mobile
Service, MTS India, Loop Mobile (BPL formerly), Ping Mobile,
S Tel and Etisalat DB.

23. Rural Connectivity Challenge in India
 Fixed-line connections
 Fixed wireless terminals
 Subsidy provision
 Infrastructure

24. Benefits of Rural Telephony
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Stimulation of rural economic growth
Social development and government services
Distributing locally relevant information
Targeting disadvantaged & marginalized groups
Promoting local entrepreneurship
Improving poor people’s health
Strengthening education
Promoting trade and e-commerce
Supporting good governance
Building capacity and capability
Enriching culture
Supporting agriculture
Creating employment opportunities
Reinforcing social mobilization

25. Conclusion
In
rural
areas
telecommunication
provides
awareness, information related to agriculture, animal
husbandry, horticulture as well as education. Rural
development is only possible if the updated information is
given to the rural people. The Indian telecom
network, 556.92 million telephone connections are in urban
areas and 338.59 million are in rural areas. Urban teledensity is 149.55%, whereas rural tele-density is 39.90% at
the end of December 2012.
The change is more visible in countries like India for the
geographical penetration and adoptability of the mobile
phones is very high compared to other Information and
Communication technology and services. The wide
penetration of mobile phones in India is fundamentally
because the major constraints for the low rural tele-density
have been lack of investible resources, non availability of
appropriate technology combined with difficult geographical
terrain and continental size of the country.

26. References
 Annual Report 2012-13 Department of Telecommunications




Ministry of Communications & Information Technology,
Government of India.
Communication :Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17), Volume II,
Economic Sector, Department of telecommunications, Ministry of
Communications & IT, Government of India
http://www.dot.gov.in/reports-statistics/12th-five-year-plan
Kurukshetra (2012) published by Ministry of Rural development
Rogers, E. M (1971) Diffusion of innovations, New York: Free
Press.
 Stakeholders conference On pilot project scheme for access to ICTs & ICT
enabled services for persons with disabilities, September 7, 2011,
Department of telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & IT,
Government of India
 www.agricoop.nic.in
 www.icar.org.in