Why in the news?

• Government said it had laid optical fibre in more than 1 lakh gram panchayats, completing the first phase of the BharatNet project that forms the backbone for the Digital India initiative.

More on news?

• Having completed the first phase of BharatNet project to provide broadband connectivity to 1 lakh gram panchayats, the Centre is expecting to preempt its original target of March 2019 for the second phase by concluding it ahead of schedule by December this year.
• Under the first phase, one lakh gram panchayats have been provided with high-speed broadband connectivity.
• Government said that the second phase of the project has been initiated for connecting the remaining 1.5 lakh gram panchayats.

BharatNet Project

• National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is an ambitious initiative to trigger a broadband revolution in rural area which was launched in October 2011 to provide broadband connectivity to all 2.5 Lakh Gram Panchayat.
• The NOFN project later renamed as 'BharatNet' project.
• BharatNet project has the mandate to provide high-speed broadband to all panchayats by March 2019.
• The objective of the government’s flagship project is to provide affordable broadband services in rural and remote areas, in partnership with states and the private sector.
• Under BharatNet project phase 2, government aims to connect 1.5 lakh panchayats through 10 lakh kilometres of additional optical fibre and give bandwidth to telecom players at nearly 75 per cent cheaper price for broadband and wifi services in rural areas.
• The total project cost of BharatNet is around Rs 45,000 crore, of which Rs 11,200 crore have been used for the first phase.
• Under BharatNet phase 1, the government has set up 15,000 wifi hotspots of which around 11,000 are in rural areas and the rest in semi-rural
• The project is implemented by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) - a special purpose vehicle under the telecom ministry.
• The equipment for the project is indigenously designed and is manufactured in India, under the "Make in India" initiative.

Source

The hindu, Indian Express, Financial Express.