Bharat Net Project: A Step Towards Advanced India

Bharat Net Project

The second phase of the Bharat Net project has already begun with a broad outlay of Rs. 31,000 crore.   A bench of ministers including Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, along with Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi showed the green flag to the second phase after collecting huge subscription fee from different telecom giants. Reliance Jio, just like its market share contributed to the max with a deposit of Rs. 13 crores as the advance subscription fee. With all that said how many of us are actually aware what Bharat Net Project is all about?

It is one of the biggest initiatives started by the Modi Government to make a digital India and thus it is a must for every Indian to know about it in detail. So, here are some quick facts about the Bharat Net Project and how it will affect our nation:

• The ultimate goal of Bharat Net Project is to provide high-speed broadband connection to all the Indian Panchayats by March 2019
• In a broader aspect, the Modi Government is targeting to connect over 1.5 lakh panchayats and for this, it aims to utilize 10 lakh kilometer of advanced optical fiber.
• The project will then provide a high bandwidth for wifi & broadband services to different telecom players at a price 75% less than usual for catering rural areas.
• The first phase of the project has already completed at an expense of Rs 11,200 crore making the total cost of the project reach Rs. 45,000 Crore.
• The project will be the biggest telecom project so far utilizing domestically produced resources.

• The government has declared the first phase to be complete by end of December this year. However, the second phase if already started under which the engineers will intricately weave a network of optical fiber across 1.5 lakh village panchayats.
• The project was first approved by the previous government in October 2011, and was named as “National Optical Fibre Network”. Sadly the project took a slower start than expected and only a few kilometers of the optical fibre was laid back then.
• The existing government introduced some vital changes in the project and accelerated the rollout of the project.
• The government has a plan to complete both the phases of the project well before March 2019 under a budget of Rs. 42,000 crore.
• Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan declared that upon successful implementation, the Bharat Net Project will contribute to a Rs. 4.5 lakh crore increase in the National Gross Domestic Product.

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• For Assam, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim the work of optical fibre installation is handed to BSNL whereas, for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Orissa, Power Grid Corporation will be held responsible.
• The project will not only boost the optical fibre footprint to double but also create employment opportunities during the rollout phase equivalent to 10 crore man-days.
• Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said, “India at present has 38,000 wifi hotspots. In Bharat Net phase 2, around 6-7 lakh wifi hotspots will be added with 2-5 hotspots in each panchayat. Some of the wifi hotspots may not be commercially viable initially. So (we) will provide viability gap funding of around Rs 3,600 crore to telecom operators,”

• Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand will enter in an agreement with the central government to run the program on their own and expecting minimal help from the central government.
• The major companies entering into the Bharat Net Project will be Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone.

The project will be a revolution in the country and will contribute to strengthening the internet infrastructure of the Nation. We wish it best of luck and hope it reaches the benchmarks with full success.