- NEW DELHI — With an aim to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram
Panchayats (GPs) in the country, more than 2.18 lakh GPs have been made service
ready (as on March 19) under the BharatNet project in the country, the
government said on Monday.
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- As of March 25, the optical fibre cable (OFC) length has
increased to 42.13 lakh route km while 6,92,676 Km of OFC has been laid (as of
January 1, 2025).
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- About 12,21,014 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections are
commissioned and 1,04,574 Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed, according to the
Ministry of Communications.
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- The BharatNet project initially aimed to connect
approximately 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country.
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- While phase I, focused on laying optical fibre cables to
connect 1 lakh Gram Panchayats by utilising existing infrastructure, was
completed in December 2017, phase 2 and 3 are currently ongoing to expand
coverage to an additional 1.5 lakh Gram Panchayats using optical fibre, radio,
and satellite technologies.
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- Phase 3 aims at future-proofing the network by
integrating 5G technologies, increasing bandwidth capacity, and ensuring robust
last-mile connectivity.
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- Approved in August 2023, the Amended BharatNet Programme
(ABP) is a design improvement aiming for Optical Fibre (OF) connectivity to
2.64 lakh GPs in ring topology (a network design where connected devices form a
circular data channel) and OF connectivity to the remaining non-GP villages on
demand.
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- It includes features like IP-MPLS (Internet Protocol
Multi-Protocol Label Switching) network with routers at Blocks and GPs,
operation and maintenance for 10 years, power backup, and Remote Fibre
Monitoring System (RFMS). The cost allocated is Rs 1,39,579 crore.
