BHARATNET

Quick Facts

• Purpose: Providing the last mile connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) of the country.
• Type: Central Sector Scheme
• Funding: Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)
• Implementing Agency: Bharat Broadband Network (Merged into BSNL in 2022)

Objective

• To provide 100 Mbps bandwidth broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.6 lakh) in the country to realise the vision of Digital India.

Salient features 

Background:   Current Status: 3 phases to be implemented by 2025 and status of different phases are as follows: Phase 1: Out of 1.23 lakh allotted GPs, 1.22 were made service ready. Phase 2: Out of 1.44 lakh allotted GPs, more than 71, 000 were made service ready. Approach:  Tie-up with Village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) or BharatNet Udyami to take the fiber connections to the homes on a 50:50 revenue-sharing basis. VLEs will be provided with the necessary equipment, including routers and additional fiber optics cable by BBNL. Satellite connectivity: GSAT-11 and GSAT-19 under BharatNet project to provide connectivity to about 6700 GPs/areas which were not accessible through other mediums. Other features:   Project of national importance: Network would remain a National Asset. Operation and Maintenance could be taken up by the States. Leveraging private sector: PPP Model for operation, maintenance, utilization and revenue generation. Now the emphasis is to utilize the created infrastructure for broadband/internet services through Wi-Fi Hotspots, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, etc. Other benefits: Facilitate delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, public internet access, G2C, B2B, P2P, B2C, etc., weather, agricultural and other services to rural India.