The government crossed a major milestone in December 2017, with the completion of Phase I of the BharatNet project. Under Phase I, optic fibre cable (OFC)-based broadband was extended to 100,000 gram panchayats (GPs) in India at a total cost of Rs 111.48 billion. Broadband internet connectivity has the potential to empower the country’s rural masses by giving them access to information and public services such as education, health and financial inclusion. As of June 24, 2018, a total of 281,371 km of OFC has been laid and 112,033 GPs have been made service-ready.
Currently, work under Phase II is in full swing and is expected to be completed by March 2019. Under this phase, the government aims to connect the remaining 150,000 GPs. The third and the last phase, to be undertaken between 2018 and 2023, will focus on future-proofing of the network through a ring topology, and developing data centres and service delivery infrastructure to keep pace with emerging technologies such as 5G and internet of things.
Phase II strategy and progress
The implementation strategy of the second phase is different from that of Phase I. Unlike Phase I, which provided broadband connectivity by laying underground OFC, Phase II will see the deployment of an optimal mix of underground and aerial OFC installations. Apart from fibre, radio and satellite will be utilised to provide connectivity. Approximately 70,000 GPs will be covered using underground OFC, around 48,000 GPs will be connected through aerial OFC and 30,000 GPs using radio. Another 2,000 GPs will be connected via satellite, the majority of which are in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand.
The implementation of the second phase will be carried out by the state governments, central PSUs and private players as opposed to only three central PSUs involved in the implementation of the first phase. Under Phase II, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is in charge of eight states – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, and Jammu & Kashmir. Tenders for these states have been floated and are under evaluation. Fibre roll-out in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu is being undertaken by the state governments and seven of these states have already released requests for proposal (RfPs). Phase II in the states of Punjab and Bihar will be implemented under the private sector model. To this end, RfPs have been floated and the bids are currently under evaluation. Meanwhile, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is in charge of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and tenders for both the states have been opened.
Tariffs
The tariffs for bandwidth under the BharatNet project range from Rs 700 per Mbps to Rs 200,000 per Mbps. The government will give an additional discount if a single application is filed seeking bulk bandwidth for multiple villages. For instance, a discount of 5 per cent will be offered for bandwidth requested for 1,000-5,000 GPs in a single application, 10 per cent for 5,000-10,000 GPs, 20 per cent for 10,000-25,000 GPs and 25 per cent for more than 25,000 GPs. Further, tariff for BharatNet dark fibre has been set at Rs 2,250 per fibre per km per annum.
Utilisation 
BharatNet will be integrated with the state wide area network (SWAN), a converged backbone network for data, voice and video communications throughout a state or union territory, to improve the efficiency of the state governments in Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Rajasthan. BharatNet infrastructure will be used to provide community-based access at all GPs.
The Rajasthan government is planning to deploy 10,000 Wi-Fi hotpots in the state. Meanwhile, BSNL has signed an MoU with the Universal Service Obligation Fund to deploy 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots at rural exchanges. The fibre network will also be used by community service centres to provide Wi-Fi. Telecom service providers (TSPs), utilities and large institutional users will also utilise this fibre. TSPs have invested Rs 180 million to connect 63,500 sites. Further, around 8,332 fibre-to-the-home connections have been provided so far.
The way forward
With the completion of the BharatNet project, a large high speed rural communication network will be created. This will prove to be a game changer, bringing the country’s large rural population into the digital fold. The network could be used for providing diverse services such as education and healthcare. With the government announcing subsidies of around Rs 36 billion, by way of viability gap funding, providing services in rural areas will make increased commercial sense for private players too.
Based on a presentation by Jaswant Dabi, Chief General Manager, Operations and Marketing, Bharat Broadband Network Limited
