The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has called on internet service providers (ISPs) to ramp up their use of BharatNet infrastructure to help bridge India’s digital divide.
BharatNet, the flagship rural telecom connectivity initiative, aims to offer non-discriminatory broadband access to all telecom operators, including ISPs, with a goal to connect 0.65 million villages across the country. Despite multiple deadline extensions, the project has faced persistent execution challenges.
In BharatNet Phase 3, tenders have been awarded across 12 packages in major states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, and West Bengal. Further, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has issued contracts under this phase to several firms, including Polycab, ITI Limited, Sterlite Technologies (STL), Telecommunications Consultants of India Limited (TCIL), and Pratap Technocrats.
Currently, around 0.212 million villages are service-ready, though only about 50,000 gram panchayats have an uptime exceeding 98 per cent. Additionally, the DoT has highlighted that a stable network presents “exciting opportunities” for wired ISPs to lease bandwidth or dark fibre, provide mobile tower backhaul, offer broadband services, and unlock new revenue streams.
