What Is BharatNet Project And How Can It Be Beneficial For Rural Areas?

After capturing a significant share in the telecom sector, Airtel and Reliance Jio are reportedly planning to increase their share in the internet sector. Both leading telecom operators along with 40 other companies are eyeing the BharatNet project of the Indian Government.

What Is BharatNet?

For the unaware, the project was started by UPA Government in 2011. Earlier, it was known as the National Optical Fiber Network program. However, it was renamed by the Modi Government and now it is known as the BharatNet program, where every village is expected to get internet via optical fibre.

This is the largest broadband connectivity program started by any Government. The ongoing project is specially designed to fill the gap between rural and urban areas. Besides, the Bharat Net program is expected to provide 100 Mbps speed to Gram Panchayats.

Recently, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) has also invited a new bid for the project so that rural areas in 16 states will get internet services. The bid is close to Rs. 19,041 crores.

"BBNL has invited global tender for the development (creation, upgradation, operation and maintenance, and utilization) of BharatNet through a public-private partnership model in 9 separate packages across 16 states for a concession period of 30 years," BBNL said.

The new project is likely to cover 3.61 lakh villages across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab. BBNL has also announced that August 24, 2021, is the last date for the submission of tender and companies have to complete the project before August 23, 2023.

Private Companies Are Bidding For BharatNet Project

Notably, the entire project has been divided into two phases the first has been completed in 2017 by RailTel. BSNL, and Powergrid. But this time telecom operators and top tech companies have shown interest in the bidding.

"There is greater private sector interest in implementing BharatNet rollout through the PPP route this time since the government has cleared the air on the quantum of VGF (viability gap funding) available for each BharatNet project package for separate geographies, which is definitely driving industry interest," STL Group CEO Anand Agarwal was quoted by ET.

The report also highlighted that Vodafone Group Plc, RailTel, Tejas, and Hinduja Global Solutions also shown interest in the project. It is important to note that any bidder who gets an opportunity to run the project will have to take care of the operations for 30 years, which means this project is expected to help the successful bidder as the demand for the internet has been increased and people wants good connectivity.