Page 671 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

298 Economic Survey 2020-21 Volume 2

January-September 2020, it had already reached 75.21 Exa bytes (Figure 37). Average wireless
data consumption per subscriber per month increased from 9.1 GB in March-2019 to 12.2 GB
in June-2020 (Figure 38). The reduced cost of data could enable affordable internet access at a
rapid pace. As on June-2020, the cost of wireless data stood at `10.55 per GB.

8.61 The GoI has taken various initiatives including BharatNet for achieving the goal of Digital
India programme. Under the project, network infrastructure is being established for Broadband
Highways, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to provide affordable broadband services
to citizens and institutions in rural areas, in partnership with States and the private sector. As
on 15.01.2021 about 4.87 lakh kms of optical fiber cable has been laid to cover 1.63 lakh Gram
Panchayats (GPs) and nearly 1.51 lakh GPs have become service ready.

Figure 36: Number of Telephone (Wireline + Wireless)
subscriptions and its Break-up (in Million)

20.07 Telephone

648.83 Urban

1175.22 1155.15 Wireless
996.13

526.39 Rural

Total Total Rural-Urban Telephone-Wireless
March-2015 November-2020
Source: Survey calculations based on DoT data.

Figure 37: Wireless Data Usage Figure 38: Average Wireless Data usage
(In Exa Byte) Per Subscriber per Month (in GBs)

80 76.47 75.21 13.0 12.2
70 12.0
11.0
60 11.0 10.4 10.4
50 10.0 9.8
42.8
9.1
40 9.0
30 8.0
19.65
20
7.0
10
6.0
0
2017 2018 2019 2020* Mar-19 Jun-19 Sep-19 Dec-19 Mar-20 Jun-20
* January- September 2020
Source: Survey calculations based on TRAI data. Source: Survey calculations based on TRAI data.