Govt plans drive to spread broadband to villages
27 Oct 2012 1:23 AM GMT
The Centre on Friday signed a tripartite agreement with 16 state and UT governments and a special purpose vehicle BBNL to expedite the mission of connecting every gram panchayat with broadband network.
'It is a Rs 20,000 crore project and entire fund will be provided by central government,' telecom minister Kapil Sibal told reporters at an event.
'We have announced that by December 2013, broadband network across the country will be completed. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for around 1,40,000 gram panchayats. There are around 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country,' he added.
Bharat Broadband Network Ltd will be responsible for the rollout of the project, to be executed by BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid.
Sibal said the 16 states account for 60 per cent gram panchayats in the country and the rest of the states will also sign the agreement soon.
State governments will have to provide approvals for laying of the optic fibre network and facilitate other measures for expeditious rollout of the network.
While speaking at the signing ceremony, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna and CM of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot promised to extend all support to the central government for the project.
'In Rajasthan, we have made 3 per cent budget provision for IT. We are making fast progress but that would not be possible without broadband connectivity,' Gehlot said.
Other states which signed MoU included Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Three union territories Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry also sign the agreement.  Â
85% DIGITISATION IN 4 METROS COMPLETE
With the deadline for complete switchover to digitisation in the four metros ending on October 31, the government on Friay said that only 15 per cent of the process is remaining. The percentage of digitisation in the four Metro cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata — has reached 85 per cent, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said here.
This figure has been achieved by considering digitisation of only the Cable Homes, the Ministry said in a release.
'Taking into account DTH, the percentage of digitisation has gone up to 90 per cent.
'It is a Rs 20,000 crore project and entire fund will be provided by central government,' telecom minister Kapil Sibal told reporters at an event.
'We have announced that by December 2013, broadband network across the country will be completed. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for around 1,40,000 gram panchayats. There are around 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country,' he added.
Bharat Broadband Network Ltd will be responsible for the rollout of the project, to be executed by BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid.
Sibal said the 16 states account for 60 per cent gram panchayats in the country and the rest of the states will also sign the agreement soon.
State governments will have to provide approvals for laying of the optic fibre network and facilitate other measures for expeditious rollout of the network.
While speaking at the signing ceremony, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna and CM of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot promised to extend all support to the central government for the project.
'In Rajasthan, we have made 3 per cent budget provision for IT. We are making fast progress but that would not be possible without broadband connectivity,' Gehlot said.
Other states which signed MoU included Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Three union territories Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry also sign the agreement.  Â
85% DIGITISATION IN 4 METROS COMPLETE
With the deadline for complete switchover to digitisation in the four metros ending on October 31, the government on Friay said that only 15 per cent of the process is remaining. The percentage of digitisation in the four Metro cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata — has reached 85 per cent, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said here.
This figure has been achieved by considering digitisation of only the Cable Homes, the Ministry said in a release.
'Taking into account DTH, the percentage of digitisation has gone up to 90 per cent.
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