DoT activities- November 2021

The Department of Telecommunications had a busy November. Some of its activities were:

A. Important events in DoT HQ:

International collaborations/events:
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) jointly organised a Cyberdrill for four days starting from 30th November to 3rd December 2021. Participating entities included Telecom/Internet Service Providers, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In), National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCI1PC), National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), National Telecom Institute for Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT), Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), and sectoral CERTs of Power, Finance, Banking, Transport and other State Government Organizations.

International Experts from ITU, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and INTERPOL also participated in the event that was inaugurated by Secretary (T).

Preparedness for 5G service rollout in the country:

• Secretary (Telecom), on 20 November 2021, held an interactive session with Private Telecom Service Providers on the way forward, challenges and timelines for rolling out 5G Services in the country.

• A comprehensive internal review was undertaken by Secretary (Telecom) on 29-11-2021 on “Roadmap for 5G Rollout” based on inputs from service providers. Critical issues such as Spectrum for 5G, Spectrum Reserve Prices, Spectrum Auction Payments, 5G Ecosystem, Equipment Delivery, Right of Way issues, Testing and Certification, 5G Rollout Timelines were deliberated and responsibilities were assigned.

Consultation with Domestic Technology Stakeholders on IPR:
Deliberations were held with Domestic Technology Stakeholders on 25 November 2021 to understand the issues related to IPR filing, protection and promotion of IPRs development in telecom sector in India.

Incorporation of Telecom reforms in SaralSanchar:
The Union Cabinet has approved a number of structural and process reforms in the Telecom Sector on 15 September 2021. Accordingly, the

modifications in the licensing workflow and processes, as requested by user units and mentioned below, have been incorporated in the SaralSanchar web-based Portal of DoT that issues various types of Licenses and Registration Certificates:-

• Modified workflow for SACFA Clearance (on self-declaration basis) with online payments

• Import of Wireless equipments by TSPs on basis of self-declaration with online payments through Bharatkosh.

• Rationalized amounts of Bank Guarantees (BG) for UL/UL-VNO Licenses (unified License/Unified License — Virtual Network Operator).

• Amendment in guidelines for Grant of UL/UL-VNO Licenses for change in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Telecom Sector.

Significant work done by Telecommunications Engineering Centre (TEC) during the month:

• Public Procurement (Preference to Make In India) PPP-MII portal for Telecom Products was inaugurated on 16 November 2021. On this portal, manufacturers/vendors and other stakeholders can register their grievances and track the status of their complaints. The complaints received on the portal regarding Local Content in the locally supplied telecom goods, services or works are referred to the Committee constituted for complaints and independent verification of self-declarations and auditor’s/accountant’s certificates on random basis.

• Technical Report on Emerging Communication Technology & Use ease in IoT domain was released on 16th Nov 2021. It covers the technologies of 5G, Wi-Fi 6/ 6E, Wi-Fi HaLow and Bluetooth Mesh; and use case of intelligent transport system (Connected vehicles, C-V2X), Private industrial network (Industry 4.0), Smart homes etc. This document is expected to be helpful in the development of ecosystem for loT domain.

• TEC handbook-2021 was released by Secretary (Telecom), on 16 November 2021. It includes relevant standards documents, details of various Standardization bodies, mandatory testing regime and study papers in emerging technologies. It will be useful as a ready reckoner for all stakeholders in telecom sector.

B. Performance of PSUs of DoT:

BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD. (BSNL)

• Gross SIM sale for the month: 11,40,865

• Gross Bharat Fiber (FTTH) Achievement: 83,389 connections.

• Gross new leased Circuits: 1,339 and upgradation: 1,427. Total provisioning including upgradation: 2,766

• Gross Bharat Air Fiber Achievement (Data): 2,112

• Gross Landline Achievement: 18,091 connections.

• Gross ADSL Broadband Achievement: 5,303 connections

• 120 GB of Caching and 90 GB of peering links have been added (cumulatively 1497 GB links in current FY 2021-22) making the cumulative capacity of 2890 GB Caching and 2484.05 GB Peering link capacity.

• Total 2G BTS added during the month of November, 2021: 4 (Redep-0).

• Total 3G Node-Bs added during the month of November, 2021: 2 (Redep-0).

• The data traffic from wire line broadband has increased from 118.2 PB (April-2019), 155 PB (April, 2020) and 278.6 PB (April, 2021) to 341.2 PB in the month of November, 2021.

• For upgrading of old legacy wireline exchange, out of planned 4.76 M capacity NGN port migration, 0.00848 M capacity is migrated in November, 2021 (cumulative 3.88M migrated).

TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANTS INDIA LIMITED (TCIL)

• Provisional Operating Turnover upto October, 2021 for the Financial Year 2021-22 is Rs. 788.35 Crores against Rs. 748.89 Crores for the Financial Year 2020-21 in the comparative period.

• TC1L have secured orders for a total of approximately Rs. 129.75 Crores from foreign & inland clients in the month of November, 2021.

INDIAN TELEPHONE INDUSTRY (ITI):
The performance of the Company in the month of November, 2021 is Rs. 58.67 Crore (provisional). The cumulative performance for the FY 2021-22 is Rs. 787.86 Crore. The turnover is mainly constituted from execution of NFS project, DCN BEU, Defence AMC, SMPS, Solar Panel manufacturing, Solar Street lights, Mini PC, Mini PDO, telephones, Smart cards, WiFi Hotspots, Airtel FTTH Rollout, ASCON PH-IV, HDPE Manufacturing, OFC manufacturing, AMC for ASCON, Defence Equipment, NGN equipment, OCB. GSM-SZ, MLLN, GujNet, 3D Printing, Business from Data Centre, upgradation of Data Centre for Indian Air Force, Test labs, Reliability lab, Start-up Hub, VSSC Business, SaaS, OFC Trading, skill development, Third Party Audit Services (TPA) for implementation of BharatNet phase-II project in the States of Odisha, Jharkhand and various other states, business generated by Corporate, MSP, etc.

(C) BharatNet:
BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country. The cumulative status of the BharatNet project, as on 29.11.2021 is as follows:

As part of this flagship project, the Last Mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology to access broadband /internet services is to be provided at all the GPs in the country. Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at 1,04,257 GPs and out of them, services are being provided at 64,905GPs, catering to more than 16,25,499 subscribers. Overall data usage on BharatNet is about 4,852 (TB) for the month of October, 2021.

The scope of BharatNet has now been extended up to all inhabited villages beyond GPs. On 30 June 2021, Union Cabinet accorded approval for a revised strategy for implementation of BharatNet through Public-Private

Partnership (PPP) model in 16 States of the country covering about 3.61 lakh villages (including 1.37 lakh GPs). The estimated maximum Viability Gap Funding (VGF) approved for the above PPP model is Rs. 19,041 crores and the targeted date for completion of the project is August, 2023. The Cabinet has also accorded in-principle approval for extending broadband to all inhabited villages of the remaining States and Union Territories (UTs).

For implementation of the PPP model in 16 States, the Request for Proposal (RFP) has been floated on 20.07.2021 through global biding for selection of the Private Sector Partner(s) and two pre-bid meetings have been held.

(D) Telecom sector KPIs:
The details regarding number of telephones and tele-density in the country at the end of October, 2021 are as under:

CT Bureau