BharatNet Project
It is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the Government of India under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized capital of Rs 1000 crore.
Initially, it was under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which was bifurcated into the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in July 2016.
Currently, it is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunication under the Ministry of Communications.
National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) was launched in October 2011 and was renamed as Bharat Net Project in 2015.
National Optical Fibre Network
It was envisaged as an information superhighway through the creation of a robust middle-mile infrastructure for reaching broadband connectivity to Gram Panchayats.
The Ministry of Communications has launched the National Broadband Mission that will facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in rural and remote areas.
Aim
To facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, Internet and other services to rural India.
To connect all the 2,50,000 Gram panchayats in the country and provide 100 Mbps connectivity to all gram panchayats.
To achieve this, the existing unused fibres (dark fibre) of public sector undertakings (PSUs) (BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid) were utilised and incremental fibre was laid to connect to Gram Panchayats wherever necessary.
The entire project is being funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which was set up for improving telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country.
Implementation
The project is a Centre-State collaborative project, with the states contributing free Rights of Way for establishing the Optical Fibre Network.
The Three-Phase Implementation of The BharatNet Project Is As Follows
First Phase: Provide one lakh gram panchayats with broadband connectivity by laying underground optic fibre cable (OFC) lines by December 2017.
Second Phase: Provide connectivity to all the gram panchayats in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media. It is to be completed by March 2019.
Third Phase: From 2019 to 2023, a state-of-the-art, future-proof network, including fibre between districts and blocks, with ring topology to provide redundancy would be created.
The participation of states became important in the second phase which involved laying of OFC over electricity poles.
This was a new element of the BharatNet strategy as the mode of connectivity by aerial OFC has several advantages, including lower cost, speedier implementation, easy maintenance and utilization of existing power line infrastructure.
Dark Fibre
It is an unused optical fibre that has been laid but is not currently being used in fibre-optic communications. Since fibre-optic cable transmits information in the form of light pulses, a ‘dark’ cable refers to one through which light pulses are not being transmitted.
Companies lay extra optical fibres in order to avoid cost repetition when more bandwidth is needed.
It is also known as unlit fibre.
What Are The Progress And Milestones of BharatNet Project
Previously, the challenge was to extend fiber-based internet connections to households after laying the infrastructure under the BharatNet project.
This success paved the way for the involvement of Udyamis in the project, expected to generate employment opportunities for around 250,000 people.
Up to this point, the government has connected approximately 194,000 villages, providing internet access to around 567,000 households.
Notably, 351,000 fiber connections have been established using the new BharatNet Udyami project.
This success paved the way for the involvement of Udyamis in the project, expected to generate employment opportunities for around 250,000 people.
What Are The Challenges To The BharatNet Project
Slow Progress and Implementation Delays
The project has faced significant delays in implementation, with the pace of progress being slower than anticipated.
Despite the government's efforts to connect villages, only about 194,000 out of the targeted 640,000 villages have been connected so far.
This slow progress has hindered the project's ability to bridge the Digital Divide in rural areas.
Infrastructure and Connectivity Issues
The challenging terrain, lack of proper roads, and logistical difficulties have all contributed to delays in connecting villages.
Connectivity issues have also led to poor service quality and interrupted internet access in some areas.
Competition from Private Operators
The presence of private telecom operators like Jio and Airtel in some rural areas poses a challenge for BharatNet.
These private operators have established their own network infrastructure and services, making it important for BharatNet to offer competitive pricing and reliable service quality to attract users.
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