Broadband connectivity: Cabinet okays Rs 1.39 lakh crore to link 6.4 lakh villages

The Union government has approved a last-mile broadband connectivity plan for 6.4 lakh villages in the country under a BharatNet project with an outlay of Rs 1.39 lakh crore.

Around 1.94 lakh villages have been connected under the project at present, and the balance may be linked in two and a half years, informed sources told PTI.

On Friday evening, the Union Cabinet approved Rs 1,39,579 crore for providing last-mile optical fibre-based connectivity to homes in all villages of the country, a source said.

Also read: With 1.2 billion internet users, India to become largest connected nation: Chandrasekhar

The connectivity will be provided by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL), an arm of state-owned BSNL, in partnership with village level entrepreneur.

“The model to take fibre-to-the-home, with the help of a local entrepreneur, was finalised after the successful completion of a pilot project. The pilot project was initially carried out to connect villages in four districts and then expanded to 60,000 villages across most states,” the source said.

Sustaining project

Customer premise equipment and additional fibre required for connecting homes are provided by BBNL, and local entrepreneurs have been tasked with maintaining the network.

Also read: 52% of internet users access news online, consumption higher in rural India: Report

“Around 3,800 entrepreneurs were involved in the pilot project (and they) provided 3.51 lakh broadband connections,” the source said.

Average data consumption per household has been recorded to the tune of 175 gigabytes per month.

The project is being rolled on a 50 per cent revenue-sharing basis between BBNL and the village level entrepreneur, and the monthly broadband plan price starts from Rs 399 onward.

According to sources, there are 37 lakh route kilometres (rkm) of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid in the country. Of this, BBNL has laid 7.7 lakh rkm.

“The broadband connection has started empowering rural areas where people have started getting treatment with the help of global doctors, some businessmen have started providing tutorials on YouTube, families are saving money on preparation for competitive exams, and many other use cases are coming up,” the source said.

The project is expected to create 2.5 lakh jobs in the country.

(With agency inputs)