(a) whether the Government has provided internet facility in Gram Panchayats to extend the benefits of communication and information technology to the people living in rural areas of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of fund released and utilised in this respect during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise; and
(d) the total number of people who were benefited through the facility during the said period, State/UT-wise?
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND
ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) & (b) BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (approx. 2,50,000) in the country. As on 22.11.2019, by laying 3,85,754 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 1,42,086 GPs have been connected and of them, 1,28,990 have been made Service Ready. In addition, 983 GPs have been made Service Ready over satellite media.
As part of BharatNet project, the Last Mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology to access broadband/internet services, is to be provided at all the 2.5 lakh GPs in the country. Towards this end, provisioning of 2 Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) is under implementation in each of the GPs of BharatNet Phase-I. As of now, Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed at 45,769 GPs and out of them, services are being provided in 16,333 GPs. Further, 33,160 Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections have been provided.
(c) The State/UT-wise details of funds disbursed under BharatNet Project during each of the last three years are given in Annexure-I.
(d) The State/Union Territory-wise details are given in Annexure-II.