Q. What is this in news?
A.
Union Cabinet has accorded approval for the revised implementation strategy of BharatNet through Public-Private Partnership(PPP) mode in 16 States of the country.
Q. What does it’s startegy includes?
A.
- The government will provide Rs 19,041 crore as viability gap funding for the project.
- BharatNet will now extend up to all inhabited villages beyond the gram panchayats (GPs) in the said states.
- It includes creation, upgradation, operation, maintenance and utilisation of BharatNet by the concessionaire who will be selected by a competitive international bidding process.
Q. What is its significance?
A.
- The PPP model will leverage private sector efficiency for operation, maintenance, utilisation and revenue generation, and is expected to result in a faster rollout of BharatNet.
- Extension of reach of BharatNet to all inhabited villages with reliable, quality, high speed broadband will enable better access of e-services offered by various central and state government agencies.
- It will also enable online education, telemedicine, skill development, e-commerce and other applications of broadband.
Q. What is BharatNet?
A.
- BharatNet Project was originally launched in 2011 as the National Optical Fibre Network(NOFN) and renamed as Bharat-Net in 2015.
- It seeks to provide connectivity to 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) through optical fibre.
- It is a flagship mission implemented by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL).
- The objective is to facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, Internet and other services to rural India.
Q. What is the larger vision of the project?
A.
- To establish a highly scalable network infrastructure accessible on a non-discriminatory basis.
- To provide on demand, affordable broadband connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps for all households and on demand capacity to all institutions.
- To realise the vision of Digital India, in partnership with States and the private sector.
