Guwahati: At a Conference held in Guwahati on the implementation of BharatNet and other major telecom projects in the North Eastern Region, Union Minister of state for Communications (I/C) Manoj Sinha said that government had achieved a significant milestone under BharatNet by connecting over one lakh Gram Panchayats (GP) across the country with high speed optical fibre network as per the declared deadline of 31st December 2017
Addressing a conference here, the minister said BharatNet network built under Phase 1 envisaged delivery of high-speed broadband services in over 2.5 lakh villages benefitting more than 200 million rural Indians.
Sinha said that the vision and the mission of the country was to realise the goal of Prime Minister’s Digital India by bridging the digital divide. It is expected to augment the spread of digital connectivity which has the potential to create direct and indirect employment opportunities in rural and remote areas. The provision of broadband &internet penetration and e-services has a positive impact on GDP growth besides quicker, transparent and cost effective governance.
In the eight States of NER there are 12017 GPs, out of these 7338 GPs were taken up in Phase I and it is only 2240 GPs that are Service Ready. The progress of the BharatNet project has been slow in NER Region due to capacity of agencies implementing the project, various developmental activities like expansion of National Highways by NHAI, hilly terrain, remote & inaccessible areas and law & order related issues.
The minister said that given the strategic importance of the North-East, as well as presence of number of areas which are in remote and hilly locations with poor connectivity, Telecom Commission had already approved a comprehensive strategy to implement BharatNet in North East Region (NER). Under this strategy 4240 Gram Panchayats in the North-East are to be connected by broadband by Satellite connectivity by December 2018. The estimated cost of the Satellite Connectivity to 4240 GPs is Rs 733 crore. Today, BSNL demonstrated live working of Mawniandlah GP in Mylliem Block of Meghalaya connected through satellite connectivity.
Sinha also explained that under Comprehensive Telecom Development Project for NER, 6673 towers are to be setup to provide connectivity to 8621 villages and along the National Highway, at a cost of Rs 5336 Crore. MOU was signed between BSNL and USO Fund to setup up 2817 mobile towers by BSNL in Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of Assam while the work of setting up of 2004 towers in six states has been initiated by Bharti Airtel in December, 2017, which is to be completed in 18 months.
On this occasion Shri Sinha dedicated the Asthamangal Project implemented by BSNL to the nation and especially to the citizens of North Eastern States. Under this project, alternate bandwidth of 810 Gbps at a cost of about Rs. 35 Crore has been provided by BSNL using reliable connectivity through Optical Power Ground Wire (OPGW) of Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) for all State Headquarters and other important locations of NE Region. Total bandwidth provided is 810 Gbps under this project. With implementation of this project, connectivity in all Eight States of North Eastern Regions has improved and the people of North East Region have benefited by getting reliable telecom services.