1.5L Gram Panchayats to be connected with Internet by 2018 end

New Delhi Jan 9: Union telecom Minister Manoj Sinha has revealed the status of implementing of the Bharatnet programme which is aimed to provide internet to gram panchayats.

The Minister has said that "101,370-gram panchayats (village blocks) are service-ready as of December 28, 2017, while the second phase has already been initiated with eight states doing at their own ."

He said that "the second phase to connect to 1.5 lakh more GPs will be completed before time by December this year."

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials have said that "Some 2.55 lakh km of optic fiber cable (OFC) has been laid so far as a part of scalable network infrastructure accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to offer on-demand Internet services to rural India ."

Minister has added that "telecom service providers had committed to provide services to 70,000 village blocks by using the optic fiber network of BharatNet and ensuring low tariffs".

Finally the minister Manoj Sinha has said that "The second phase is slated to connect the remaining 1.5 lakh village blocks by March 2019 and talks about ensuring broadband delivery through satellite at 5,300 locations, radio communications and aerial fibre via electric poles in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.Rural India will get the benefit of technology advancement and it (BharatNet) will facilitate direct and indirect employment opportunities for many, and can contribute to the inclusive growth of India."