Budget 2022: BharatNet broadband to be ready by 2025

By Team Newsable | First Published Feb 1, 2022, 12:45 PM IST

The government's ambitious BharatNet plan aims to bring broadband to 3,61,000 villages across 16 states.

In the Budget speech on Tuesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared that BharatNet broadband would be ready by 2025. She added that BharatNet contracts for laying optical fibre would be awarded through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

On 5G rollout, the finance minister said, the spectrum auction would be conducted this year.

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The government's ambitious BharatNet plan aims to bring broadband to 3,61,000 villages across 16 states. It was planned by the Union Cabinet in July last year.

As per the plan, the private player selected through bids would be set up, operated, and maintained the network.

Also Read Budget 2022: FM announces completion of 80 lakh homes under PMAY, allocates Rs 48,000 crore

The Centre has bundled the project into nine packages, each corresponding to one or more telecom circles, and no investor would be awarded over four packages.

The released Economic survey reported that 5.46 lakh km optical fibre cable had been laid on Monday. It also said a total of 1.73 lakh gram panchayats had been connected by optical fibre cable (OFc), and 1.59 lakh gram panchayats are service-ready on OFC as of September 27, 2021.

The aspirational district scheme will also boost telecom infrastructure. In contrast, a focus on the provision of submarine optical fibre cable infrastructure will spur high-speed internet and broadband connectivity, according to the survey.

Under BharatNet, the telecom ministry has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with seven states, including Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

These states will carry out their project, with only a portion of the funding provided by the Centre.

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