Lok Sabha Question No. 50 (STARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: BharatNet Project
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Ramdas Chandrabhanji Tadas, Sangamlal Kadedin Gupta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 50 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH   NOVEMBER, 2019

## BHARATNET PROJECT

| †*50.       | SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS: SHRI SANGAM LAL GUPTA: Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:     |
|-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| (a)         | the present status of the BharatNet Project;                                                              |
| (b) optical | whether all Gram Panchayats and post offices of all the States have been connected with fibre;            |
| (c)         | if not, the number of Gram Panchayats that have not yet been connected with optical fibre, State/UT-wise; |
| (d)         | the funds allocated/utilised thereunder, State/UT-wise; and                                               |
| (e)         | the time by which the remaining areas are likely to be connected with optical fibre?                      |
|             | ANSWER                                                                                                    |
| (a) to (e)  | A statement is laid on the Table of the House.                                                            |

## STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a) to (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *50 FOR 20 TH  NOVEMBER, 2019  ON 'BHARATNET PROJECT'.

(a) & (b) BharatNet  project  is  being  implemented  in  a  phased  manner  to  provide  broadband connectivity  to  all  the  Gram  Panchayats  (approx.  2,50,000)  in  the  country.    As  on  07.11.2019,  by laying 3,80,988 km Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), a total of 1,40,668 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected, out of which 1,27,393 GPs have been made Service Ready.  In addition, 983 GPs have been  provided  connectivity  through  satellite  media. As  part  of  BharatNet  project,  the  Last  Mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband access technology, is funded from USOF for  two  Wi-Fi  Access  points  (hotspots)  per  GP.  As  of  now,  Wi-Fi  hotspots  have  been  installed  in 44,786 GPs.

The connectivity to rural Post Offices is not covered in BharatNet scheme. However, 32 Post Offices are utilizing BharatNet connectivity through Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

(c) The number of Gram Panchayats that have not yet been connected with optical fibre, State/UT wise is given in Annexure-I .

(d) Funds for the project are allocated as a whole and not State/Union Territory-wise.  A lump sum of Rs. 20889 crore has been allocated and disbursed from Universal Service Obligation Fund to Bharat Broadband Network Limited for execution of BharatNet project.The details of State/UT wise fund disbursement/utilization under BharatNet Project are at Annexure-II.

(e) The BharatNet project is under implementation and a total of 2 lakh GPs are targeted to be completed by March 2020.

## Annexure-I

Annexure referred to in Part (c) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *50 for Answer on 20.11.2019.

## Details of Gram Panchayats that have not yet been connected with optical fibre, State/UT wise:

|   S. No. | State/UT               |   Total No. of GPs including BHQs |   No. of GPs connected with OFC |   No. of GPs yet to be connected |
|----------|------------------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar       |                                67 |                              24 |                               43 |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh         |                             13518 |                            4067 |                             9451 |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh      |                               745 |                             565 |                              180 |
|        4 | Assam                  |                              2979 |                            1622 |                             1357 |
|        5 | Bihar                  |                              8893 |                            7852 |                             1041 |
|        6 | Chandigarh             |                                13 |                              13 |                                0 |
|        7 | Chhattisgarh           |                             10158 |                            4559 |                             5599 |
|        8 | Dadra &Nagar Haveli    |                                21 |                              21 |                                0 |
|        9 | Daman &Diu             |                                18 |                              18 |                                0 |
|       10 | Gujarat                |                             14311 |                            8862 |                             5449 |
|       11 | Haryana                |                              6204 |                            6188 |                               16 |
|       12 | Himachal Pradesh       |                              3115 |                             241 |                             2874 |
|       13 | Jammu &Kashmir, Ladakh |                              3100 |                             368 |                             2732 |
|       14 | Jharkhand              |                              4651 |                            2670 |                             1981 |
|       15 | Karnataka              |                              6268 |                            6243 |                               25 |
|       16 | Kerala                 |                              1129 |                            1129 |                                0 |
|       17 | Madhya Pradesh         |                             23695 |                           13621 |                            10074 |

| S. No.   | State/UT      |   Total No. of GPs on OFC including BHQs |   No. of GPs connected with OFC |   No. of GPs yet to be connected |
|----------|---------------|------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| 18       | Maharashtra   |                                    28260 |                           18059 |                            10201 |
| 19       | Manipur       |                                      664 |                             376 |                              288 |
| 20       | Meghalaya     |                                      971 |                             356 |                              615 |
| 21       | Mizoram       |                                      275 |                             130 |                              145 |
| 22       | Nagaland      |                                      922 |                             656 |                              266 |
| 23       | Odisha        |                                     7070 |                            4087 |                             2983 |
| 24       | Puducherry    |                                      101 |                             101 |                                0 |
| 25       | Punjab        |                                    12934 |                           11210 |                             1724 |
| 26       | Rajasthan     |                                    10109 |                            8765 |                             1344 |
| 27       | Sikkim        |                                      207 |                              41 |                              166 |
| 28       | Tamil Nadu    |                                    12909 |                               0 |                            12909 |
| 29       | Telangana     |                                    13421 |                            2047 |                            11374 |
| 30       | Tripura       |                                      905 |                             817 |                               88 |
| 31       | Uttar Pradesh |                                    56211 |                           31977 |                            24234 |
| 32       | Uttarakhand   |                                     7531 |                            1529 |                             6002 |
| 33       | West Bengal   |                                     3708 |                            2454 |                             1254 |
|          | Total         |                                   255083 |                          140668 |                           114415 |

## Annexure-II

Annexure referred to in Part (d) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question  No. *50 for Answer on 20.11.2019.

## Details of funds disbursed/utilized under BharatNet:

|   S. No. | State/UTs                                |   Disbursement/Utilization (In Cr.) |
|----------|------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar                         |                               15.22 |
|        2 | Assam                                    |                              155.1  |
|        3 | Bihar                                    |                              573.62 |
|        4 | Chhattisgarh                             |                              939.22 |
|        5 | Haryana                                  |                              409.65 |
|        6 | Jammu& Kashmir, Ladakh                   |                               72.27 |
|        7 | Karnataka                                |                              618.01 |
|        8 | Kerala                                   |                               66    |
|        9 | Maharashtra                              |                             1976.12 |
|       10 | Madhya Pradesh                           |                             1506.53 |
|       11 | Punjab                                   |                              575.38 |
|       12 | Rajasthan                                |                              774.8  |
|       13 | Uttar Pradesh (East)                     |                              961.94 |
|       14 | Uttar Pradesh (West)                     |                              599.26 |
|       15 | Uttarakhand                              |                              200.72 |
|       16 | West Bengal                              |                              365.33 |
|       17 | Sikkim                                   |                               51.78 |
|       18 | Puducherry                               |                                4.96 |
|       19 | Arunachal Pradesh                        |                               45.73 |
|       20 | Manipur                                  |                               46    |
|       21 | Meghalaya                                |                               67.23 |
|       22 | Mizoram                                  |                               34.35 |
|       23 | Nagaland                                 |                               74.1  |
|       24 | Tripura                                  |                               70.76 |
|       25 | Gujarat, Dadra &Nagar Haveli, Daman &Diu |                             1631.52 |
|       26 | Lakshadweep                              |                                0.1  |

| S. No.   | State/UT                                                          |   Disbursement/utilization (In Cr.) |
|----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 27       | Telangana                                                         |                              310.73 |
| 28       | Odisha                                                            |                              479.86 |
| 29       | Jharkhand                                                         |                              349    |
| 30       | Himachal Pradesh                                                  |                               80.25 |
| 31       | Andhra Pradesh                                                    |                              530.33 |
| 32       | Tamil Nadu                                                        |                              121.45 |
| 33       | Chandigarh                                                        |                                0.01 |
|          | GPON( Gigabit Passive Optical Network)& OFC (Optical Fibre Cable) |                              813.87 |
|          | Advance given to BSNL for Phase II                                |                             3165    |
|          | Total                                                             |                            17686.2  |

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