Connecting every village & every rural household with broadband internet has been on the agenda of every government in the last decade. The UPA launched the National Optical Fiber Network which the NDA renamed as BharatNet. What is this program and what is the current status of implementation? Here are the details. In her budget speech on 01 February 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the government’s vision is to provide digital connectivity to all public institutions at Gram Panchayat level. For the same, the government has proposed to allocate ₹ 6000 crores in 2020-21 to ‘BharatNet’ programme to link one lakh gram panchayats by providing Fibre to the Home connections (FTTH). What exactly is BharatNet? When was it conceived and what is the currentstatus of implementation? BharatNet programme was earlier known as National Optical Fiber Network during the UPA With a vision to connect over 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats across the country, the Manmohan Singh led UPA government initiated the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) programme in 2011. Like in the case of a few other schemes, the Modi government renamed the programme as BharatNet programme. The programme aims at taking broadband connectivity to every nook and corner of the country by using optical fiber. It is considered the biggest rural telecom project in the world. The project is now an integral part of the current government’s Digital India initiative- the flagship programme to empower citizens digitally and to bridge the digital gap between rural and urban India. Through BharatNet, the government envisages providing a minimum of 100 Mbps bandwidth at each Gram Panchayat so that online services can be accessed by everyone, especially those in rural India. This includes e-governance, e-learning, e-banking, e-commerce and e-health services. The Infrastructure is a national asset and non-discriminatory access will be provided to all telecom service providers. In short, the central government is laying broadband internet infrastructure that can be used by governments and service providers. BBNL manages and takes care of the operation of BharatNet Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) is a special purpose vehicle, set up by the government of Indiaunder the Department of Telecommunications for management, establishment, andoperation of BharatNet. It was incorporated in 2012 as a PSU under the Companies Act. Deadlines have been modified time and again The program was originally planned to be implemented in a phased manner. Deadlines were set by the UPA government for each of the three phases. They had ambitious deadlines to complete the entire project in two years– by 2013. This was further extended to But, after the NDA came to power in 2014, these deadlines were extendedup to March 2017. Nonetheless, the first phase of connecting more than one lakhpanchayats was completed in only December 2017. The implementation wasundertaken by three Central PSUs, namely, BSNL, RailTel, and Powergrid.Currently, phase – II to connect the remaining 1.5 lakh panchayats is underimplementation. The government is expecting to complete the project by August2021. Phase II of the project is currently under execution Under Phase -II, implementation is done through the State Model, Private Sector Model, and CPSU Model. Not only will this phase include an optimum mix of channels for connectivity (Optical Fibre Cables, Radio and Satellites), but will also be providing last-mile connectivity through Wi-Fi or similar technology to ensure that internet is available at the home/office. This is based on the recommendations of the committee on National Open Fiber Network which submitted its report in 2015. About eight states have opted for State-led model while the satellite model is being implemented mostly in states which have a difficult terrain. Uttar Pradesh is implementing the project through both BSNL (CPSU Led) and PPP Model. As on 06 March 2020, Optical Fiber Cables has been laid for over 4.27lakh kilometres connecting more than 1.5 Lakh gram panchayats. Around 1.37 lakhof these have been made service ready as per the latest data on BBNL website. Government cited various reasons in Lok Sabha for the delay in project Even though the government had set March 2019 as the target forcompletion of the ‘mega‘ project, there has been a significant delay due tomany reasons as listed by the government in the Lok Sabha. The reasons behindthis delay as answered in Lok Sabha are as follows, Funds are earmarked as a whole, not state-wise Funds for BharatNet are allocated as a whole and not state-wise. A lump sum amount is allocated and disbursed from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to BBNL for implementation of BharatNet.