Government approves spending Rs 1.39 billion to extend BharatNet Project

During the trial project, almost 1,700 towers were fiberized, and online training is offered for installing and maintaining fibre.

The government has set aside Rs 1,39,579 crore for the Bharat Net's upcoming phase, which will increase connectivity throughout the nation's outlying regions, as stated in a report by Prasar Bharti. By doing this, Bharat Net would expand from the present 1.94 lakh connected villages to 6.40 lakh villages throughout the nation during the next two years.

The Communication Ministry reportedly claimed that the extension project was chosen following the success of a pilot operation in four regions. Within eight months, the programme was expanded to 60,000 communities spread over the majority of the states in the nation. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed by the merging of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) is responsible for carrying out the Bharat Net project.

During the trial project, almost 1,700 towers were fiberized, and online training is offered for installing and maintaining fibre. The capital cost of the project is covered by the government, and any damage to the optical fibre sends a robotic message to the network operation centre. A projected 2.50 lakh employment would be created by the project.

Bharat Net Fibre completed 3.51 lakh fibre internet connections during the pilot project, and BSNL is currently offering 1.3 lakh connections each month. The administration is certain that a solid precedent has been established, and Bharat Net Fibre will shortly be formally launched. The average household in a rural location uses 175 GB of data per month compared to 230 GB in urban areas, according to reports.

The Indian government approved the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) programme in 2011 with the goal of connecting 2.5 lakh Gramme Panchayats (GPs) throughout the nation. All 6.5 lakh villages in the nation might have access to these services, including e-government, telemedicine, tele-education, and e-health.

The project ultimately started in 2014 after initially moving slowly due to difficulties with planning (design), coordination, and provision of electronic equipment among the numerous executing entities. The NOFN project received a boost in 2015 as part of the Digital India plan and was dubbed "BharatNet."

There are 3 planned phases of the BharatNet initiative:

Phase I included To develop the NOFN network in the first phase and provide connection to 100,000 GPs by March 2017, Central Public Sector Units (C-PSUs), including BSNL, Railtel, and PGCIL, were appointed.

For the remaining 150,000 villages, Phase II saw the deployment of a number of models across agencies, including C-PSU-led, State-led, and BBNL-led models as well as certain PPP models. Furthermore, December 2018 was the target completion date.

And lastly The goal of Phase III was to upgrade the fibre network that had been installed throughout 2.5 lakh GPs to a cutting-edge ring topology between districts and blocks and blocks and GPs.