· With Optical Fibre connectivity now available at 1 lakh Gram Panchayats under Phase-1 of BharatNet, DoT has initiated discussions on delivering Broadband enabled Citizen Services in these locations
· The National Conference on Signing of MoU with States and Utilisation of Network will be held in New Delhi on 13th November 2017 with States and Service Providers
· Telecos like Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone and Idea have expressed interest in providing last mile connectivity on BharatNet Infrastructure.
· Memorandum of Understanding to be signed with States for Implementation of BharatNet Phase II
DoT is organizing a National Conference with the State Governments and Service Providers on Monday (13.11.2017) to brainstorm and showcase various utilization models leveraging BharatNet infrastructure. The Conference will be attended by IT Ministers and IT Secretaries from States.
Broadband infrastructure on Optical Fibre network has been made available at over 1 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country as part of BharatNet Phase I. State Governments shall be sharing their plans for leveraging the BharatNet infrastructure. DoT, on its part, has taken initiative to demonstrate various models that could possibly be adopted for these services. The Telecom Service Providers, who in collaboration with DoT, have taken initiative to set up centers in rural areas to demonstrate service delivery on BharatNet infrastructure, shall also be present to share their experiences.
The DoT had significantly increased the pace of implementation during the last six months to complete Phase I. Under BharatNet Phase I, Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity has reached in over 1, 00, 000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) across different States in the country. By Dec 2017, all 1, 00, 000 GPs will be operational on the BharatNet infrastructure. As of today, almost 90,000 installations have been completed and Services are expected to commence in 80,000 GPs shortly.
DoT will also sign Memorandum of Understanding with States for the implementation of BharatNet Phase II during the Conference.