New Delhi: Buoyant over the successful completion of the first phase of Bharat Net, the government on Monday expressed hope that the second phase of the project aimed at providing broadband connectivity to 1.5 lakh gram panchayats would be completed before time by December this year.
Asserting that under Phase-I, one lakh gram panchayats have been provided with hi-speed broadband connectivity, Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said, "Financial incentives and disincentives should be built into clauses for the second phase of the project to reward players for on-time delivery."
"We have already started Phase 2...the Cabinet has already approved it. We hope it will be completed well in time by December 2018," Sinha said at a conference to mark the completion of the first phase of Bharat Net project and to felicitate implementation partners. The original timeline for completion of the second phase is March 2019.
Sinha further said that the vision and the mission of the country are to connect India to realise the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India by bridging the digital divide. Describing the Bharat Net as the world's largest rural broadband project Sinha said, "The project would generate massive employment opportunities both direct and indirect in the country in days to come."
The project aims to provide affordable broadband services to citizens and institutions in rural and remote areas, in partnership with states and the private sector.
Stating that the tender process for the second phase has already started, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has floated its tenders.
"...Wi-fi tenders whereby from 38,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, by the end of implementation that is planned for December 2018, India will go to half a million Wi-Fi hotspots. We believe that will be a game changer," the Secretary said.
Under Phase 1 of the project, till May 31, 2014, the work had been started in 4,918 gram panchayats and 358 km optical fibre cable (OFC) was pulled and only 59 gram panchayats were made service ready.
Until June 30, 2016, work had been started in 84,834 gram panchayats and 1,24,817 km OFC pulled covering 53,557 gram panchayats with 7,229 gram panchayats made service ready. As on December 31, 2017, 2,54,895 km OFC has been laid covering 1,09,926 gram panchayats out of which 1,01,370 gram panchayats have been made service ready.