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Plea against contracts awarded under Bharat Net by govt on nomination basis: HC seeks Centre reply.
About Bharat Net Project
- Bharat Net seeks to connect all of India’s households, particularly in rural areas, through broadband by 2017, forming the backbone of the government’s ambitious Digital India programme.
- Earlier National Optical Fibre Network or NOFN failed due to slow implementation.
- NOFN is now rebranded as Bharat Net.
- At present, a special purpose vehicle, Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL), under the telecom ministry is handling the roll out of optical fibre network.
- The project is being executed by BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid.
- It is world’s largest rural broadband connectivity programme using Optical fibre
- The project is being funded by the Universal service Obligation Fund (USOF).
- The three-phase implementation under the BharatNet project is:
- Under the first phase, one lakh gram panchayats would be provided connectivity by laying underground optic fibre cable (OFC) lines by March 2017. This phase is nearing its completion.
- Under the second phase, connectivity will be provided to all 2,50,500 gram panchayats in the country. It is to be completed by December 2018
- Under the third phase from 2018 to 2023, state-of-the-art, future-proof networks, including fiber between districts and blocks would be created.
Universal Service Obligation Fund
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Source:
Yojana and The Hindu
