The world’s most significant rural broadband connectivity effort employing optical fibre is underway. Bharat Broadband Network Ltd has also launched a flagship mission (BBNL).
The Government of India established BBNL as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with an authorised capital of Rs 1000 crore under the Companies Act, 1956.
It is a highly scalable network infrastructure that is available to all families on a non-discriminatory basis to deliver on-demand, inexpensive broadband connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps and on-demand capacity to all institutions, in partnership with States and the private sector, to realise the vision of Digital India.
It is being executed by the Ministry of Communications’ Department of Telecommunication.
In 2015, the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN), inaugurated in October 2011, was renamed Bharat Net Project.
Building a solid middle-mile infrastructure for providing broadband connectivity to Gram Panchayats was intended to turn NOFN into an information superhighway.
In 2019, the Ministry of Communications established the ‘National Broadband Mission,’ which aims to ensure that everyone has access to broadband services.
The Indian government launched the BharatNet Scheme as part of the Digital India effort to bring high-speed digital internet connectivity to rural areas at a low cost. Optical Fiber will be used to deliver this high-speed digital connectivity. It is the largest rural broadband access project in the world. Citizens in rural and distant locations will be able to get inexpensive internet services due to this program. By 2021, the initiative will have touched 2.5 lakh gram panchayats and 6 lakh villages. Aside from that, B2B services are supplied in a non-discriminatory manner under this arrangement. This program aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society with a knowledge economy.
The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which was established to improve telecom services in rural and isolated areas of the country, is funding the entire project.
The goal is to improve rural India’s access to e-government, e-health, e-education, e-banking, the internet, and other services.
The project’s phases are as follows:
First Phase: By December 2017, provide broadband connectivity to one lakh gram panchayats by building underground Optic Fiber Cable (OFC) lines.
Second Phase: By March 2019, provide access to all of the country’s gram panchayats utilising an ideal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio, and satellite media.
Third Phase: From 2019 to 2023, a cutting-edge, future-proof network will be built, featuring fibre across districts and blocks and ring topology to ensure reliability.
BharatNet will now be expanded to all inhabited villages outside of gram panchayats in 16 states: Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The updated strategy calls for the private sector partner to build, upgrade, operate, maintain, and use BharatNet, chosen through a competitive international bidding procedure.
According to the specified Services Level Agreement, the selected private sector partner should provide dependable, high-speed broadband services (SLA).
Faster Rollout: The PPP Model will take advantage of private-sector efficiency in operation, maintenance, utilisation, and income generation, allowing BharatNet to be implemented more quickly.
Increased Investment: The private sector partner is expected to provide stock and raise funds for capital expenditures and network operation and maintenance.
Better Access: Extending BharatNet to all inhabited villages will improve access to different government e-services, as well as online education, telemedicine, skill development, e-commerce, and other broadband applications.
The first step in every procedure is to plan it out. Planning is necessary for the successful implementation of any strategy. As a result, IIT Bombay has created a planning tool for the BharatNet Scheme’s implementation. This tool will be in charge of proposing fibre topologies for gram panchayats and wireless and satellite links when needed. Aside from that, this tool will determine the technology and the best network topology. This tool will ensure technological feasibility as well as a long-term network topology.
Connectivity is offered to service providers such as TSPs, ISPs, MSOs, LCOs, and government organisations through the BharatNet Project, allowing them to extend their services from blocks to gram panchayats. This project consists of a middle-mile network connecting blocks to gram panchayats. The following services are provided to government agencies and service providers as part of this project.
Point to point and multipoint bandwidth is available from block to gram panchayat using GPON technology. At the block level, all service providers and government agencies that want to deliver services to gram panchayats can link to BharatNet. The service provider must use its technology to supply its services to the end customer in the gram panchayat. This bandwidth is being provided at a low cost to boost the digital ecosystem.
Service providers can also use dark fibre service on the new cable constructed by BBNL between the block and the gram Panchayat. This type of cable is known as incremental cable. An additional line is available between the fibre point of connecting and the gram Panchayat. Dark fibre is available in panchayats with a population of 15000-grams. This fibre is available at a desirable and affordable rate of Rs 2250 per fibre per kilometre per year.
Under the BharatNet scheme, 16 states would get broadband connectivity.
On June 29, 2021, the cabinet authorised the implementation strategy for the BharatNet scheme under the PPP model. The initiative would deliver broadband access to 16 states’ villages. Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh are among the 16 states that make up the Arunachal Pradesh area. The Indian government will allocate Rs 19041 crore to this scheme’s implementation. The telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, has provided this information. As a result, 3.61 lakh villages in 16 states would be connected under the BharatNet plan, which will cost Rs 29432 crore in total.
On August 15, 2020, honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that in the next 1000 days, 6 lakh villages across the country would be connected to the internet. Following the announcement, it was determined that the BharatNet campaign would also encompass private firms. The purpose of this project was to cover 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats. So far, 1.56 lakh gram panchayats have been covered out of a total of 2.5 lakh. With the appropriate implementation of this system, all of the villages in the 16 states that have been notified will be covered. The remaining states will be covered under this system soon.
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