Recommendations of National Advisory Council on Telecom services in North East Department of Telecommunications 18 April, 2013

TELE-DENSITY IN NORTH-EAST INDIA 2 As onAssam North East (Except Assam & Sikkim) All India URBANRURAL OVERALL URBANRURAL OVERALL URBANRURALOVERALL March March March March March January

INTERNET / BROADBAND PENETRATION IN NORTH EAST INDIA 3 As on Dec 2012 (in million) Assam North East (Except Assam & Sikkim) All India Internet Connections 0.11 (0.43%) 0.13 (0.51%) Broadband Connections (speed =>256 kbps) 0.01 (0.07%) 0.07 (0.47%)14.98

4 COVERAGE OF VILLAGE PUBLIC TELEPHONES IN NORTH EASTERN STATES S. No.StateNo. of inhabited Villages as per Census 2001 Villages provided with VPTs No. of villages without VPTs 1.Assam 25,124 24, Meghalaya 5,782 5, Mizoram Tripura Manipur 2,315 2, Arunachal Pradesh 3,863 2,774 1,089 7.Nagaland 1,278 1, Sikkim Total 40,377 37,084 2,141

5 MOBILE COVERAGE STATUS IN NORTH EASTERN STATES S. No.StateNo. of inhabited Villages as per Census 2001 No. of Villages with mobile coverage by one or more operators No. of villages without mobile coverage 1.Assam 25,124 22,148 2,976 2.Meghalaya 5,782 2,525 3,257 3.Mizoram Tripura Manipur 2,315 1,275 1,040 6.Arunachal Pradesh 3,863 1,481 2,382 7.Nagaland 1, Sikkim Total 40,377 29,494 10,883

Telecommunications in the North-East Plan for uncovered villages Village Public Telephone (VPT) facility by Sept with subsidy support from USOF. Scheme to cover uncovered villages with mobile network – USOF MoU with C-DOT on 1st November, 2012 – Preparation of mobile network plan for benchmarking subsidy. – Financial approvals and award of work expected to be completed by 31 st March 2014.

Telecommunications in the North-East Augmentation of OFC network To strengthen OFC network at the district and block level To provide sufficient back-haul capacity to integrate the traffic from the access network to the core network. Network to be shared with other Telecom Operators at prescribed rates.

8 S. No. ItemAssam NE-I (Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram) NE-II (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland) 1No of Districts No of Nodes to be connected Agreement period7 years8 years 4 Project Capital Cost Rs Cr.Rs Cr. 5 Operator (executive Agency) BSNLRailTel 6 Subsidy outlay from USOF Rs Cr.Rs Cr.Rs Cr. 7 Projections for BE Rs.3.10 Cr.Rs Cr.Rs Crore 8Progress302 nodes installed Work under progress

Recommendations of NAC Telecom Plan for North East – National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) to connect all 8117 Panchayats in North East with optical fibre. Survey work by Railtel nearing completion. Tenders issued for optical fibre by BBNL. RailTel to issue tender notice for laying of fibre and ducting on 15 th April, – Comprehensive Telecom Plan BSNL Plan of Rs 19,642 crore in two phases. USOF & DoNER expressed inability to fund plan of this size Planning Commission suggested on to make detailed analysis to identify present gap and investment requirement. TRAI requested to identify gap and prepare investment plan

Recommendations of NAC Core optical fibre connectivity – Scheme for augmenting OFC connectivity at district & block level under implementation. – In-principle approval granted for OFC connectivity from Akhaura near Agartala to Akhaura town in Bangladesh where PoP of BTCL available. – Alternate way for routing traffic from North East. – Issue taken up with MEA for laying 15 km OFC cable in Bangladesh territory & methodology for maintenance of network.

Recommendations of NAC Use of appropriate technology. – Rollout of services by BWA licencees expected in the next two years. – Implementation of NOFN by next year. – DoNER can initiate advance planning for last mile connectivity to village institutions. – New technology for BTSs with low power consumption on TEC GR being attempted in LWE connectivity project. – International gateway at Cox Bazar is not viable. Alternative through Akhaura being explored. – DoNER could subsidise royalty charges for microwave services through NLCPR

Recommendations of NAC USO Funds – USO Funds made available for schemes in North-East. – Commitment to NOFN implementation. – Commitment to reach mobile connectivity to all villages in North East. – At present, USOF rules are not an impediment. Issues on provision of ducts – NEC could co-ordinate with State PWD-B&R & BRO for resolution of ducting problem and cable cuts. – Matter taken up with NHAI for National Highways and joint committee constituted

Issues flagged for DoNER DoNER can initiate advance planning for last mile connectivity to village institutions. DoNER/ NEC eager to take advocacy and co-ordination role (issue needs clarity) NEC could co-ordinate with State PWD-B&R & BRO for resolution of ducting problem and cable cuts. Adviser (Transport & Communication), NEC shall coordinate on these issue with all stakeholders Matter taken up with NHAI for National Highways and joint committee constituted DoNER is actively involved in this committee

Issues flagged for DoNER DoNER could subsidise royalty charges for microwave services through NLCPR. DoNER is administering following schemes that are linked to NLCPR Pool. –NLCPR Scheme – meant only for priority projects of State Governments –NLCPR-Central Scheme Annual allocation of fund for both these Schemes are done by Department of Expenditure through normal budgetary procedure and not correlated with the accumulated accruals into the NLCPR Pool. NLCPR Central is to ensure speedy development of NER by the targeted flow of budgetary resources for financing social and physical infrastructure projects pertaining to subjects in Union and concurrent lists of the Constitution. Fund from scheme will NOT be available to supplement/ up-scale the normal Plan Programmes of the Central Ministries/Department/Agencies.

Issues flagged for DoNER A total six project proposal from M/o Power, M/o Railways and M/o Shipping with combined indicative cost of Rs received against NLCPR - Central Scheme shall exhaust 30-40% in NLCPR pool. For , Rs. 36 Crore was allocated to by MoF. For , B.E. of Rs. 62 Crore allocated by MoF

Views of DoNER on DoT’s initiatives Ministry of DoNER would like to appreciate DoT’s initiative regarding “augmentation of OFC network”, specially designed for NE Region, which is expected to address OFC connectivity between Block Head Quarters & District Head Quarters. Target of DoT to connect all 8117 Panchayats in North East with optical fibre under National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is a good beginning. However, the difficult geographical constraints (scattered populace), power problem, poor accessibility of villages, variation in the nature of Panchayati institutions vis-à-vis rest of the country demands a careful planning and adoption of realistic approach. As suggested by Planning Commission suggestion there is need to evolve a comprehensive telecom plan for NER after taking into account (a) existing network of USOF, telcos and other agencies, (b) their expansion plan, (c) identification of gaps for arriving at desired level of telecom connectivity, (d) overall investment requirement to bridge the gap, (e) policy intervention and VGF support as per available resource with GoI.

Views of DoNER on DoT’s initiatives 10% GBS performance of DoT (including USOF) is not satisfactory YearAllocation for NER by DoT Actual Expenditure % Utilization

Views of DoNER on DoT’s initiatives 10% GBS expenditure for NER is the lower ceiling There is no shortage of fund with DoT for the NE Region Suggestions :- Need to further relax USOF guideline and other policy initiatives so that more schemes specific to NER may be supported like augmentation of satellite and microwave communication. Private, public telcos, other Government agencies like PGCIL and Railtel may be encouraged to initiate proposals for strengthening of telecom services under USO relaxed norms for the NER (and also for similar backward areas in the country).