Question : Bharat-Net Project

(a) whether the Bharat-Net Project has been launched to connect all Gram Panchayats to provide high speed internet services in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of the norms for the selection of Gram Panchayats under the said programme and the number of Gram Panchayats that have been connected through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) under the project during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise along with the number of Gram Panchayats which are yet to be linked, State/UT-wise;

(c) whether Wi-Fi services are proposed to be provided at public places under the said project and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the people from Gram Panchayats are being provided with quality and affordable internet facility after the introduction of the aforementioned project and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(e) whether the Government has taken cognizance of the delay in the progress of the said project and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the corrective action taken by the Government in this regard; and

(f) whether the Government has launched the second phase of the BharatNet Project and if so, the details thereof including the number of Gram Panchayats that have been connected through OFC in this phase, State/UT-wise along with the details of the proposal, if any, regarding the involvement of the private sector in the implementation of the said project?

Answer given by the minister

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) BharatNet project has been launched for providing Broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) (approx. 2,50,000) in the country by March 2019.
(b) All the Gram Panchayats are being connected in Phased manner. As on 10.12.2017, total 1,05,831 Gram Panchayats have been connected by OFC. State-wise and year-wise list is given in Annexure-I.
(c) Yes, they are proposed at all GPs.
(d) Services under BharatNet are to be provided by Service Providers. Towards this non-discriminatory access of network is to be provided to Service Providers. Subsided tariff for bandwidth has been decided.
(e) & (f) The Project is to be completed by March, 2019. In the Phase-I to connect 1,00,000 GPs, 1,05, 831 GPs have been connected with OFC. Phase-II of the project has been approved by Cabinet to connect remaining GPs on July 19, 2017. The project is to be completed by March, 2019. The total cost of BharatNet approved by the Cabinet is Rs 42068 crore. The implementation of Phase-II is to be done with participations of States, Private Sector & CPSU.

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