Big Change In BharatNet Project For Last-Mile Broadband Connectivity: Sources

BharatNet: Ministry sources said around 1.94 lakh villages have been connected at present and rest of the villages are expected to be connected in the next 2.5 years.

The Narendra Modi cabinet on Friday has approved Rs 1.39 crore for the BharatNet Project, its biggest rural telecom project to enhance the country's rural internet connectivity.

Ministry sources said the project, after multiple delays, is finally on track, and will have significant impact on the implementation of public services in the health and education sectors. One of the main changes the government has made is that it has decided to use village level entrepreneurs (VLE) who it calls Udyamis to take the fibre connections to households on a 50:50 revenue-sharing basis. This is similar to private telecom companies such as Airtel, Vodafone, and Jio, which use local cable operators to provide fixed broadband services to households.

Ministry sources said around 1.94 lakh villages have been connected at present and rest of the villages are expected to be connected in the next 2.5 years. The government is looking at connecting 6,40,000 villages over the next 2.5 years by providing last-mile optical fibre-based connectivity to homes in all the villages of the country.