Lok Sabha Question No. 615 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-20
Subject: Bharat Net
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RAJESH RANJAN  (PAPPU  YADAV), KALIKESH NARAYAN SINGH DEO, POONAMBEN HEMATBHAI MAADAM, KINJARAPU RAM MOHAN NAIDU, A.T. (NANA) PATIL, CHANDRAKANT RAGHUNATH PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.615 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH  JULY, 2016

## BHARAT NET

615. SHRI RAJESH RANJAN:

SHRI KALIKESH N. SINGH DEO: SHRIMATI POONAMBEN MAADAM: SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU: SHRI A.T. NANA PATIL: SHRI C.R. PATIL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the status of progress made under Bahrat Net Phase against the set target along with the details of Gram Panchayats connected so far;
- (b) whether the Government is considering the initiating of Phase II of the Bharat Net;
- (c) whether  any  special  feature  is  included  for  Phase  II  implementation  in  terms  of strengthening of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as well as the monitoring mechanism and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government intends  to engage  any other  agency/private  sector  in  the process  for  efficient  functioning  and  effective  project  management  and  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (e) whether the Government has evaluated the performance of the three PSUs involved in the National Optical Fibre Network till date as compared to targets set, State-wise and if so, the details thereof, State-wise and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) BharatNet  project  is  planned  to  be  implemented  in  phases.  Under  Phase-I  of  the project, 1 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) are to be connected by laying underground OFC by March 2017. The status of progress made under  BharatNet Phase-I, as on 09.07.2016, is given below:-
- (b) to (d) Under Phase-II  of  BharatNet  project,  it  is  planned  to  provide  connectivity  to remaining 1.5 lakh GPs in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media, by December, 2018. The salient features of BharatNet Phase-II  in  terms  of  strengthening  of  Special  Purpose  Vehicle  (SPV)  i.e.  BBNL  and monitoring mechanism are at Annexure-I.
- (e) The performance of all the three CPSUs is being monitored regularly at various levels. State-wise performance of CPSUs in implementation of BharatNet is at Annexure-II.

| Items                                                | Planned   | Achieved   |
|------------------------------------------------------|-----------|------------|
| Pipe laid (km)                                       | 2,30,000  | 1,50,540   |
| OFC pulled (km)                                      | 2,30,000  | 1,25,642   |
| Pipe laid (Gram Panchayats)                          | 1,00,000  | 64,875     |
| Optical Fibre Network (OFC) pulled (Gram Panchayats) | 1,00,000  | 54,023     |
| Connectivity provided (Gram Panchayats)              | 1,00,000  | 7,312      |

## Annexure-I

## Salient features of  BharatNet  Phase-II in terms of strengthening of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) i.e. BBNL and monitoring mechanism

- (i) Indian  Institute  of  Technology  (IIT),  Bombay  has  been  engaged  as  consultant  to provide media plan for radio and satellite broadband connectivity to GPs for Phase II and other technology issues.
- (ii) Indian  Institute  of  Management  (IIM),  Ahmedabad  is  being  engaged  to  provide roadmap  for  reorganization  of  BBNL  for  efficient  functioning  and  effective  project management.
- (iii) World Bank is being engaged to provide project management framework, recommend standards and good practices for BharatNet management and rural broadband demand assessment study and development of marketing strategies
- (iv) Fresh recruitment of manpower for field operations and management
- (v) Monitoring Mechanism of BBNL has been strengthened in April, 2016 with the setting up monitoring and issues resolution by three committees:
1. Empowered  Committee  to review progress and resolution of policy level implementation issues &  to meet once in a month.
2. Steering Committee for resolution of inter-agency implementation matters, to meet every fortnight.
3. Technical Standing Committee  for deciding the technology related issues pertaining to BharatNet implementation.
- (vi) Mobile application based GIS monitoring system is being developed for capturing monitoring  data  at  field  level  with  mobile  devices  to  be  displayed  on  GIS  maps  in realtime.

Condt/elipsis.3/-

## Statewise status of BharatNet as on  09.07.2016

| S.No.   | States/ UTs         | Executing CPSU   | No. of Gram Panchayats (GPs)- Phase I   | Pipe laid (kms.)   | Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid (in kms)   | No. of GPs where OFC laid   | No. of GPs lit   |
|---------|---------------------|------------------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------|-------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------|
| 1       | Andaman & Nicobar   | BSNL             | 69                                      | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh      | PGCIL            | 0                                       | 1913               | 19                                        | 0                           | 0                |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh   | RailTel          | 256                                     | 594                | 100                                       | 22                          | 0                |
| 4       | Assam               | BSNL             | 1013                                    | 1986               | 1887                                      | 707                         | 156              |
| 5       | Bihar               | BSNL             | 5202                                    | 7928               | 6915                                      | 2597                        | 215              |
| 6       | Chandigarh          | BSNL             | 12                                      | 18                 | 19                                        | 12                          | 12               |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh        | BSNL             | 2110                                    | 5207               | 4982                                      | 1684                        | 602              |
| 8       | Goa*                |                  | -                                       | -                  | -                                         | -                           | -                |
| 9       | Gujarat             | RailTel          | 5735                                    | 7005               | 5395                                      | 2479                        | 139              |
| 10      | Haryana             | BSNL             | 6090                                    | 5633               | 5481                                      | 3399                        | 168              |
| 11      | Himachal Pradesh    | PGCIL            | 283                                     | 232                | 128                                       | 44                          | 0                |
| 12      | Jammu & Kashmir     | BSNL             | 624                                     | 253                | 240                                       | 103                         | 0                |
| 13      | Jharkhand           | PGCIL            | 1388                                    | 2895               | 2685                                      | 1062                        | 156              |
| 14      | Karnataka           | BSNL             | 5599                                    | 10300              | 10569                                     | 5195                        | 3074             |
| 15      | Kerala              | BSNL             | 977                                     | 720                | 826                                       | 1129                        | 1129             |
| 16      | Lakshadweep†        |                  | 10                                      | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 17      | Madhya Pradesh      | BSNL             | 10516                                   | 20346              | 18220                                     | 6209                        | 193              |
| 18      | Maharashtra         | BSNL             | 12055                                   | 16001              | 13361                                     | 5821                        | 272              |
| 19      | Manipur             | RailTel          | 24                                      | 71                 | 73                                        | 24                          | 0                |
| 20      | Meghalaya           | RailTel          | 638                                     | 1086               | 257                                       | 76                          | 0                |
| 21      | Mizoram             | RailTel          | 163                                     | 447                | 81                                        | 0                           | 0                |
| 22      | Nagaland            | RailTel          | 743                                     | 1935               | 758                                       | 170                         | 0                |
| 23      | Odisha              | PGCIL            | 3388                                    | 5292               | 4450                                      | 1808                        | 122              |
| 24      | Puducherry          | RailTel          | 98                                      | 82                 | 92                                        | 98                          | 101              |
| 25      | Punjab              | BSNL             | 6128                                    | 5546               | 5117                                      | 3807                        | 0                |
| 26      | Rajasthan           | BSNL             | 6967                                    | 14568              | 13702                                     | 4173                        | 316              |
| 27      | Telangana           | PGCIL            | 2097                                    | 4155               | 3670                                      | 1648                        | 106              |
| 28      | Tripura             | RailTel          | 1021                                    | 1508               | 1306                                      | 593                         | 79               |
| 29      | Uttar Pradesh       | BSNL             | 22514                                   | 30535              | 21493                                     | 9547                        | 281              |
| 30      | Uttarakhand         | BSNL             | 1767                                    | 1751               | 1415                                      | 806                         | 184              |
| 31      | West Bengal& Sikkim | BSNL             | 2713                                    | 2536               | 2401                                      | 810                         | 7                |
|         | Grand Total         |                  | 100200                                  | 150543             | 125642                                    | 54023                       | 7312             |

*All the GPs of Goa are already connected with Optical Fibre.

† In Lakshadweep, no Right of Way (RoW) agreement has been signed.

*****************

## Annexure-II