HFCL starts largest indigenous router rollout for BharatNet project

New Delhi: Domestic telecom gear maker HFCL has started first large scale deployment of indigenously designed and manufactured network routers in collaboration with state-run ITI for BharatNet project, the company said.

India’s network router market is currently dominated by US companies after Chinese gears were restricted by the government under telecom security rules.

“In a groundbreaking development at Rouri Gram Panchayat in Solan district, Himachal Pradesh, HFCL’s domestically designed and manufactured IP/MPLS routers have been successfully deployed by ITI Limited, enabling Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity to rural subscribers. This marks the first time in India’s telecommunications history that indigenous routing technology has been used to deliver broadband services to consumers,” HFCL Managing Director Mahendra Nahata said.

The company has bagged orders for deploying over 80,000 network routers under the government’s rural broadband project BharatNet.

BharatNet is the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity program, aiming to connect over 250,000 Gram Panchayats across India with high-speed optical fibre networks.

Nahata said that beyond Himachal Pradesh, HFCL routers are currently being operationalised across strategically important circles, including Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Punjab, West Bengal, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, bridging the digital divide in these states.