Cabinet approves second phase of BharatNet with Rs 18,792 cr

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the second phase of its ambitious project BharatNet for Rs 18,792 crore along with a new deadline for the project to March 2019.

The Cabinet approval entails a total estimated expenditure of Rs 42,068 crore for the implementation of BharatNet, which will be funded from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Out of this amount, Rs 11,148 crore is the cost of providing connectivity in phase 1 and Rs 18,792 crore is for providing connectivity to remaining 1.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in Phase-II, according to sources.

DNA Money had reported about Cabinet approval to the second phase of BharatNet in its story dated June 27.

As on April this year, USOF had a corpus of Rs 48,534 crore for 2017-18, the data from USOF showed.

The rest amount will be used for essential activities not covered in the initial Bharatnet framework, which includes last mile connectivity architecture, operation and maintenance and replacement of BSNL's poor quality fibre being used in the project between Block to GPs.

The project entails connecting 250,000 villages through broadband connectivity and the earlier deadline was March 2017 for phase 1 – connecting 100,000 GPs and for second phase of connecting 100,000 GPs was fixed for December 2018.

The first phase is still under implementation, while optical fibre has been laid in 100,000 GPs, internet connectivity has been provided in 20,000 GPs. The project is way beyond its target.

According to sources, the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a modified implementation strategy of BharatNet (erstwhile National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)) project towards realisation of vision of Digital India for providing Broadband connectivity to all GPs by March 2019.

The project will provide minimum 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all GPs by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, aerial fibre, radio and satellite media.

BharatNet will be able to bridge the digital divide in rural and remote areas of the country by providing robust and reliable network infrastructure for the proliferation of affordable broadband. It will also facilitate electronic delivery of services to citizens of various e-governance, e-commerce, e-education, and e-health services.

The modified implementation strategy of BharatNet project will enable effective and faster implementation of various mission mode e-governance projects of central government and State governments, sources said.

The discussions with states and discoms are already going on for the laying of aerial OFC on the electricity lines. 10 States have so far submitted their plan for survey/GIS mapping of their power lines. Out of these, approval has been accorded for release of fund to five states -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.

In the first phase, only underground optical fibre has been used.

While BBNL was created as a special purpose vehicle to execute the BharatNet project, USOF is being used for funding of the project. The project is being executed by three public sector companies—Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd and RailTel Corp. of India Ltd.