Digital Communications Commission sanctions Tamil Nadu Rs 1815.30 crores for BharatNet project

In a recent announcement made by the Government of Tamil Nadu, it was known that the Digital Communications Commission (erstwhile Telecom Commission, Department of Telecom) has sanctioned the revised BharatNet Project to Tamil Nadu at a cost of ₹1815.30 crores.

Dr. Santhosh Babu, IAS, Secretary, Dept of IT, Govt of Tamil Nadu and the MD of TANFINET is notably the SPV created by the Government of Tamil Nadu to implement BharatNet and TamilNet.

In his LinkedIn post, Dr. Santhosh Babu shared, "These 2 projects in the next one year will transform Tamil Nadu like nothing else will! We will be laying about 55,000 Kms of Optical Fibre Cable across the length and breadth of Tamil Nadu, to connect 12,524 Village Panchayats from the Blocks, with 1 GBPS connectivity per Village Panchayat. This is like opening the floodgates of Internet connectivity!"

According to the officer, this kind of high-speed bandwidth would boost education, entrepreneurship, e-Governance, and entertainment at the state's village level. "We can do magic with that kind of connectivity! TACTV has an ISP license and 26,000 Local Cable Operators under it. Add TamilNet, that will cover all the Urban areas of Tamil Nadu, we have an extremely connected state! An e-State!" commented Dr. Babu.

TN Digital Accelerator Program

Dr. Santhosh Babu also shared that Tamil Nadu recently received Rs 2,300 crore US investment when Chief Minister K Palaniswami was on a three-nation tour to the UK, US, and Dubai. The foreign fundraising trip to America took the investment total to over Rs 5,000 crore in the state. As many as 19 memoranda of understanding were signed at an Investors' Meet held at San Jose in the US on September 4th. It was known that a total of 16 companies had committed investments to the tune of Rs 2,780 crore at a similar meet held in New York. A meet at San Jose saw the participation of over 250 investors, including officials of firms like Foxconn and Zoho Corporation, who have already invested in Tamil Nadu. At San Jose, a total of 19 MoUs were signed and Tamil Nadu has received Rs 2300 crore investment which would create over 6500 job opportunities that would benefit the youth of the state.

At the tour, CM Palaniswami launched the 'Digital Accelerator' scheme in participation with an American entrepreneurs association to fund new ventures by state-based entrepreneurs. The state government will allocate Rs 50 crore for this purpose, wherein 10 percent of the total investment will be provided as assistance.

In his address at the investors' meet, CM Palaniswami highlighted the business-friendly atmosphere in Tamil Nadu and pointed out Tamil Nadu was a favorable destination for investments in the sectors of Fintech, Aerospace, and Space, the release said.