Lok Sabha Question No. 1740 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-30
Subject: Infrastructure under BharatNet Phase-II
Ministry: COMMUNICATION
Asked by: Shri Bastipati Nagaraju

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1740 ANSWERED ON 30 TH  JULY, 2025

## INFRASTRUCTURE UNDER BHARATNET PHASE-II

## 1740.   SHRI BASTIPATI NAGARAJU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of Gram Panchayats identified under BharatNet Phase-II, year, State and district-wise particularly for Andhra Pradesh;
- (b) the  details  of  The  number  of  Gram  Panchayats  where  optical  fiber  has  been  laid  and broadband services are operational, State and district-wise particularly for Andhra Pradesh;
- (c) whether any proposals from Andhra Pradesh for last-mile connectivity including provisioning of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and Wi-Fi hotspots have been received;
- (d) if so, the total number of proposals received and approved, year, district-wise; and
- (e) the details of the total fund allocated, released and utilised by  Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFL) till date during the last five years, year-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) & (b) BharatNet scheme is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all the 2.6 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. Under BharatNet Phase-II, a total of 1,02,133 GPs were planned, including 11,274 in Andhra Pradesh. As on 30.06.2025, 94,146 GPs have been made service-ready under Phase-II, which includes all 11,274 GPs in Andhra Pradesh. For the implementation of Phase-II in the state Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the State Government on 13.11.2017.

State-wise details of GPs in the country and district-wise details of GPs in Andhra Pradesh under BharatNet Phase-II are available on Digital Bharat Nidhi website (https://usof.gov.in/home).

(c) & (d) Proposal from the state of Andhra Pradesh regarding the provisioning of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) was received by this office. However, there is no provision for funding CPE modems under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the State Government for  BharatNet  Phase-II.  Amended  BharatNet  Program  is  being  implemented  across  the  country, under which Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections are targeted to be provided to ensure last mile connectivity.

(e) As on 30.06.2025, a total amount of Rs. 1,289.19 Crores have been allocated/released/utilized by  BBNL to APSFL under BharatNet Phase-II project.  The  year-wise details of  fund  allocated/ released to APSFL during last five years are as follows:

| Financial Year   |   Fund allocated/released to APSFL (Rs. in crores) |
|------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
| 2020-21          |                                               0    |
| 2021-22          |                                             100    |
| 2022-23          |                                             597.88 |
| 2023-24          |                                             265.54 |
| 2024-25          |                                              98.65 |
| Total            |                                            1062.07 |

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