BharatNet 2: Central government will sign MoUs with the states

With an aim to provide high-speed broadband in all panchayats by March 2019, Department of Telecom is organizing a National Conference with the State Governments and Service Providers on Today.

With optical fibre connectivity now available at 1 lakh gram panchayats under Phase I of the project, the Central government will sign MoUs with the states for staring BharatNet Phase II.

"The national conference on the signing of MoU with states and utilization of network will be held in New Delhi on November 13 with states and service providers.

"DoT (Department of Telecom) will sign Memoranda of Understanding with states for implementation of BharatNet Phase II during the conference," it said.

Telcos like Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and Idea have expressed interest in providing last mile connectivity on BharatNet Infrastructure, DOT said.

The DoT had significantly increased the pace of implementation during the last six months to complete Phase I. Under BharatNet Phase I, Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity has reached in over 1, 00, 000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across different States in the country.

By December 2017, all 1, 00, 000 GPs will be operational on the BharatNet infrastructure. As of today, almost 90,000 installations have been completed and Services are expected to commence in 80,000 GPs shortly.

DoT will also sign Memorandum of Understanding with States for the implementation of BharatNet Phase II during the Conference.