Under the revamped Rs 1.4 trillion BharatNet project, the government is expected to use high-speed satellite connectivity technology as well as fixed wireless access (FWA) to connect rural areas, along with fiber connectivity. The current plan is to connect 10% of the gram panchayats in remote and mountainous regions where optical fiber cable deployment is going to be difficult, officials aware of the matter said.
The same, once approved, will pave the way for companies like Jio, Starlink, and OneWeb to collaborate with the government. There are possibilities that BSNL might also tie-up with satellite communication (satcom) players to provide satellite-broadband connectivity as well.
“We will review the requirements to consider connectivity via low earth orbit (LEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites. The priority currently is to start the implementation of the revamped BharatNet project,” a government official said. In the phase 1 and phase 2 of the project, some gram panchayats were provided broadband connectivity through geo-stationary satellites using services from Hughes. However, GEO satellites may not be suitable for applications that require low latency compared to LEO and MEO constellations, experts said.
The option for satellite connectivity under BharatNet, will be considered by the government depending on requirements and cost-effectiveness, officials said.
State-owned BSNL, which is the single project management agency of the BharatNet project, is expected to rollout tender by next month, based on which it will select companies for laying out fiber as well as operation and maintenance of sites connected under the BharatNet project. The company is targeting to offer the tender and start the implementation of the project by March and April next year.
The target is to upgrade existing 164,000 gram panchayats connected under BharatNet phase I and phase II projects, as well as connect around 47,000 gram panchayats under the new model. The revamped BharatNet project involves three-level architecture – Internet leased line bandwidth to be provided by BSNL at 7,269 blocks, middle-mile connectivity (block to gram panchayat) that will involve private players to operate and maintain the project for 10 years, and last mile connectivity (village to household) which is the Udyami model.
With regard to taking connectivity to gram panchayats, the BharatNet network will be further expanded to connect and maintain 264,000 gram panchayats by professional agencies specialised in optical fiber networks, officials said.
Just like private telcos – Airtel and Jio — who involve local cable operators (LCOs) to provide fixed home broadband services, the government under the revamped model of BharatNet will involve village level entrepreneurs or Udyamis to take the fiber connections to the homes on a 50-50 revenue sharing basis. Further, these Udyamis will also be given a one-time financial incentive between Rs 8,900 and Rs 12,900 per fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) connection under the project.
BSNL has a target to provide 15 million home fiber connections over a period of five years using BharatNet Udyami model, officials said.
In August, the Union Cabinet had approved the third such package of Rs 1.39 trillion for BharatNet, taking the total allocation to over Rs 2 trillion so far. In 2017, the Cabinet approved funding of Rs 42,068 crore for the BharatNet (Phase-I and Phase-II) projects. In 2021, the Cabinet allocated another Rs 19,041 crore to implement the project under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, which, however, failed to attract the interest of the private players.
As on October 16, the government has made 203,436 gram panchayats service ready under the BharatNet project. A total of 669,012 FTTH connections have also been provided under the same, officials said, adding that of the total 640,000 villages so far about 250,000 villages have been connected under BharatNet.