DoT activities- October 2021

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

Gati Shakti:
DoT actively contributed in the launch of the GatiShakti by Hon’ble PM on 13.10.2021 and in the panel discussions/interactive sessions following the launch.

International collaborations/events:

• Under India’s Chairmanship, the 7th BRICS Communications Ministers Meeting was held on 22nd October, 2021 in virtual format chaired by Devusinh Chauhan, Hon’ble MoS for Communications. In the meeting, the Terms of References of Digital BRICS Task Force were adopted and support extended to the advancement of the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) through meetings of Working Groups. It was also decided to adopt the proposal to host the Digital BRICS Forum annually to facilitate sharing of information and knowledge, practices and initiatives in agreed cooperation areas.
• Hon’ble MoSC, Devusinh Chauhan participated in the Ministerial Roundtable Session of the 50th anniversary edition of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) digital World 2021, hosted by the Government of Vietnam. Participants included the Prime Minister of Vietnam and Ministers of Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Lao P.D.R., Myanmar and Vietnam.
• The Third ASEAN-India Track 1.5 dialogue on Cyber Issues was held online on 20.10.2021 by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Participants and speakers from DoT, NSCS, MEA and ASEAN Member States shared their views in the event.
• Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) of the Department organized a webinar in association with GCF (Global Certification Forum) on October 25^th, 2021 for developing knowledge base on ‘oneM2M’ standards and their certification. Expert speakers from all around the globe participated.

PLI scheme:
Taking the PLI Scheme for promoting the manufacture of Telecom and Networking Products in India forward, the 31 applicants found eligible were issued Sanction letters by the Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications at a function on October 14^th, 2021.

5G ecosystem:
To understand the implementation of challenges and the changes required in 5G ecosystem to support indigenous 5Gi features, an interactive session with academia and industry was organized on October 20^th, 2021.

Reduction of compliance burden & promoting ease of doing business:
Amendments have been made in the relevant licenses for substantial reduction of Bank Guarantees, interest rate, penalty and interest on penalty on delayed payment of license fee. The definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) has also been amended appropriately to reduce the burden on industry.  In addition, conversion of the present CAF (Customer Acquisition Form) which is presently maintained by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in physical form to Digital Form has also been authorized. This move from paper to digital will not only reduce compliance burden on the TSPs but will help in preserving the environment.

Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav:
DoT was allotted two weeks during the month (October 11^th 2021 to October 17^th 2021 and October 24^th 2021 to October 31^st 2021) in the calendar issued by the Ministry of culture for organizing theme-specific events/activities in the field offices across the country.  Attached offices & Field Units of the Department responded with a string of events, some of which have been detailed above.

Vigilance Awareness Week:
Vigilance Awareness Week was commemorated in DoT offices across the country from October 26^th 2021 to November 1^st 2021. The Integrity Pledge was duly administered on 26.10.2021. Relevant theme-based competitions and events were held in DoT HQ, attached/field offices and in CPSEs.

Performance of PSUs of DoT
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL):

• Gross SIM sale for the month: 11,90,056
• Gross Bharat Fiber (FTTH) Achievement: 96,952 connections.
• Gross Bharat Air Fiber Achievement (Data): 2,098
• Gross Landline Achievement: 20,136 connections.
• Gross ADSL Broadband Achievement: 6,022 connections
• 170 GB of Caching and 67 GB of peering links have been added (cumulatively 1287 GB links in current FY 2021-22) making the cumulative capacity of 2770 GB Caching and 2394.05 GB Peering link capacity.
• 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 350.04 PB in the month of October, 2021.
• For upgrading of old legacy wireline exchange, out of planned 4.76 M capacity NGN port migration, 0.0274 M capacity is migrated in the month of October, 2021 (cumulative 3.877M migrated).

Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL):
Provisional Operating Turnover upto September, 2021 for the Financial Year 2021-22 is Rs. 684.10 crores against Rs. 631.17 crores for the Financial Year 2020-21 in the comparative period.

TCIL have secured orders for a total of approximately Rs.26.52 Crores from foreign & inland clients in the month of October, 2021.

Indian Telephone Industry (ITI):
The performance of the Company in the month of October, 2021 is Rs. 59.42 crore (provisional). The cumulative performance for the FY 2021-22 is Rs. 697.14 crore.  The turnover is mainly constituted from execution of NFS project, DCN BEU, Defence AMC, SMPS, Solar Panel manufacturing, Solar Street lights, Mini PC, WiFi Hotspots, Airtel FTTH Rollout, ASCON PH-IV, HDPE Manufacturing, OFC manufacturing, AMC for ASCON, Defence Equipment, NGN equipment, GSM-SZ, OCB, GujNet, 3D Printing, MLLN, Business from Data Centre, upgradation of Data Centre for Indian Air Force, Test labs, Reliability lab, Start-up Hub, VSSC Business, SaaS, Third Party Audit Services (TPA) for implementation of BharatNet phase-II project in the States of Odisha and Jharkhand and various other states, business generated by Corporate, MSP, etc.

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 25.10.2021 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 1,04,218 GPs and out of them, services are being provided at 64,905GPs, catering to more than 16,25,551  subscribers. Overall data usage on BharatNet is about 5,6621.20 TB for the month of September, 2021.

Extension of BharatNet connectivity upto villages:
The scope of BharatNet has now been extended upto all inhabited villages beyond GPs. On October 30^th 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^th July 2021 through global biding for selection of the Private Sector Partner(s) and two pre-bid meetings have been held.

Telecom sector KPIs
The details regarding number of telephones and tele-density in the country at the end of September, 2021 is as under-

CT Bureau