DoT to sign MoU with states to implement BharatNet Phase II

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will today sign MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with states to implement BharatNet Phase II at the National Conference on BharatNet.

The national conference will brainstorm with the state governments and service providers various utilization models leveraging BharatNet infrastructure. The conference will be attended by IT ministers and IT secretaries from states.

Broadband infrastructure on optical fibre network has been made available at over 1 lakh gram panchayats across the country as part of BharatNet Phase I. State governments shall be sharing their plans for leveraging the BharatNet infrastructure. DoT, on its part, has taken initiative to demonstrate various models that could possibly be adopted for these services. Telecom service providers in collaboration with DoT has taken initiative to set up centers in rural areas to demonstrate service delivery on BharatNet infrastructure, shall also be present to share their experiences.

With optical fibre connectivity now available at 1 lakh gram panchayats under Phase-1 of BharatNet, DoT has initiated discussions on delivering broadband enabled citizen services in these locations. Telcos like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have expressed interest in providing last mile connectivity on BharatNet Infrastructure.

Under BharatNet Phase I, optical fibre cable connectivity has reached in over 100,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across different states in the country. By Dec 2017, all 100,000 GPs will be operational on the BharatNet infrastructure. As of today, almost 90,000 installations have been completed and services are expected to commence in 80,000 GPs shortly.