Lok Sabha Question No. 13 (STARRED), answered on 2016-02-24
Subject: Broadband Connectivity to Village Panchayats
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: PRABHAS KUMAR SINGH, KINJARAPU RAM MOHAN NAIDU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.13 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016

## BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY TO VILLAGE PANCHAYATS

- *13. DR. PRABHAS KUMAR SINGH: SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU:

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY  be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  met  the  target  of  broadband  connectivity  to  village panchayats;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government has examined and approved the report of the Committee set up on National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) and if so, the details thereof along with the major  recommendations  of  the  committee  accepted  and  if  not,  the  time  by  which  the recommendations are likely to be approved and implemented;
- (d) whether the next  phase  of  NOFN has  been  covered  under  the  BharatNet  and  also PPP mode introduced for the projects and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether the Government has undertaken measures to increase access to IT in rural India and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  TO  BE  LAID  ON  THE  TABLE  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  IN  RESPECT  OF PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.13 FOR 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016 REGARDING 'BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY TO VILLAGE PANCHAYATS '.

(a) & (b) National  Optical  Fibre  Network  (NOFN)  project  was  planned,  in  2011,  to connect all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC)  utilizing  existing  fibres  of    Public  Sector  Undertakings  (PSUs)  viz.  Bharat  Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL)  and RailTel and laying  incremental fiber  wherever necessary to  bridge the connectivity  gap between Gram Panchayats  (GPs)  and  Blocks  for  providing  broadband  connectivity.  The  project  is  being executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL),  which  has  been  incorporated  on  25.02.2012  under  Indian  Companies  Act  1956. Under  this  project,  at  least  100  Mbps  bandwidth  has  to  be  provided  in  all  the  estimated 2,50,000 GPs for utilization by all categories of service providers on non-discriminatory basis including Internet Service Providers. The Project was to be executed in the phases. Under Phase-I  ,one  lakh  GPs  was  targeted  by  31.03.2015.  Considering  the  vastness  of  project execution, the very limited resources deployed by the institutions, time required for tendering, mobilisation of physical resources, the budgeted resources, the time line for completion of NOFN project  could  not  be  met.  The  timeline  for  connecting  one  lakh  GPs  with  OFC  to provide broadband connectivity under Phase-I has been revised to 31.12.2016.

State-wise status of NOFN, as on 31.01.2016, is given in the Statement at Annexure-I.

(c) & (d)   The Committee, constituted to review the strategy and approach towards speedy implementation of NOFN project,submitted its report on 31 st March, 2015. The Committee, inter-alia,  recommended  that  the  project  be  renamed  as  BharatNet  to  reflect  the  national aspiration  to  establish  a  highly  scalable  network  infrastructure  accessible  on  a  nondiscriminatory basis to realize the vision of Digital India, in partnership with the States and the private sector. Major recommendations of the Committee are given at Annexure-II.

Subsequent to Report of the Committee on NOFN, three Committees were constituted as under:-

- (i) To assess the availability of optical fibre infrastructure and examining the possibilities of pooling the fibre infrastructure of all entities into a common national entity. The Committee submitted its report on 26.10.2015.
- (ii) To study innovative methods of financing to take the project of BharatNet forward. The Committee submitted its report on 14.10.2015.
- (iii) To assess/recommend suitable technology options for a reliable, secure, cost effective and efficient network to meet the objective of BharatNet. The Committee submitted its report on 14.10.2015.

The Reports of the Committee are being examined.

(e) Government of India is implementing several schemes/projects under Digital India like Common Services  Centres  (CSCs),    IT  Mass  Literacy  (National  Digital  Literacy  Mission), Digital Saksharta Abhiyan to make information technology accessible to the people residing in rural and remote areas.

Contd…….3/-

## Statewise status of NOFN (BharatNet) as on  31.01.2016

| S.No.       | States/ UTs         | 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.          | Jammu &Kashmir      | 624                                     | 93                 | 69                                        | 47                          | 0                |
| 2.          | Himachal Pradesh    | 283                                     | 201                | 75                                        | 14                          | 0                |
| 3.          | Punjab              | 6128                                    | 4432               | 3280                                      | 2055                        | 0                |
| 4.          | Haryana             | 6090                                    | 4775               | 4340                                      | 2776                        | 45               |
| 5.          | Rajasthan           | 6967                                    | 11281              | 10065                                     | 3092                        | 71               |
| 6.          | Chandigarh          | 12                                      | 18                 | 19                                        | 12                          | 12               |
| 7.          | Uttarakhand         | 1767                                    | 1190               | 862                                       | 554                         | 46               |
| 8.          | UP (West)           | 8040                                    | 8095               | 4290                                      | 2055                        | 65               |
| 9.          | UP (East)           | 14474                                   | 14634              | 10545                                     | 4764                        | 36               |
| 10.         | Bihar               | 5202                                    | 6416               | 5303                                      | 1936                        | 124              |
| 11.         | West Bengal         | 2713                                    | 1933               | 1683                                      | 619                         | 0                |
| 12.         | Sikkim              | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 13.         | Assam               | 1013                                    | 1751               | 1359                                      | 515                         | 23               |
| 14.         | Jharkhand           | 1388                                    | 2600               | 1862                                      | 770                         | 84               |
| 15.         | Odisha              | 3388                                    | 4086               | 2960                                      | 1355                        | 12               |
| 16.         | Andaman &Nicobar    | 69                                      | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 17.         | Arunachal Pradesh   | 256                                     | 272                | 69                                        | 10                          | 0                |
| 18.         | Nagaland            | 743                                     | 1160               | 509                                       | 154                         | 0                |
| 19.         | Manipur             | 24                                      | 71                 | 73                                        | 24                          | 0                |
| 20.         | Meghalaya           | 638                                     | 737                | 210                                       | 47                          | 0                |
| 21.         | Tripura             | 1021                                    | 1277               | 951                                       | 434                         | 40               |
| 22.         | Mizoram             | 163                                     | 183                | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 23.         | Madhya Pradesh      | 10516                                   | 15531              | 12134                                     | 3898                        | 26               |
| 24.         | Chattishgarh        | 2110                                    | 4368               | 3913                                      | 1258                        | 171              |
| 25.         | Gujarat             | 5735                                    | 5508               | 3572                                      | 1648                        | 91               |
| 26.         | Maharashtra         | 12055                                   | 11078              | 7826                                      | 3478                        | 37               |
| 27.         | Daman &Diu          | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 28.         | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 29.         | Karanataka          | 5599                                    | 9596               | 9248                                      | 4348                        | 2283             |
| 30.         | Andhra Pradesh      | 0                                       | 1913               | 19                                        | 0                           | 0                |
| 31.         | Telengana           | 2097                                    | 3912               | 2883                                      | 1296                        | 5                |
| 32.         | Tamil Nadu          | 0                                       | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 33.         | Kerala              | 977                                     | 746                | 810                                       | 1129                        | 1129             |
| 34.         | Pudducherry         | 98                                      | 82                 | 92                                        | 98                          | 101              |
| 35.         | Lakshadweep         | 10                                      | 0                  | 0                                         | 0                           | 0                |
| 36.         | Goa*                | -                                       | -                  | -                                         | -                           | -                |
| Grand Total |                     | 100200                                  | 117939             | 89021                                     | 38386                       | 4401             |

## Annexure-I

## Annexure-II

## Major recommendations of the Committee on National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)

- (i) Fresh  optical  fibre  (48/96  core)  should  be  laid  in  ring  topology  between  District Headquarters (DHQs) and Block Headquarters (BHQs).
- (ii) Gram Panchayats with more than 500 households should be connected to BHQ in ring topology (24 core). Gram Panchayats with less than 500 households situated upto a distance of 7.5 km from BHQ should be connected in a linear network through Gigabit Passive Optical Network(GPON).
- (iii) Far  flung  GPs  (over  a  distance  of  7.5  km  from  BHQ)  and  having  less  than  500 households should be connected through radio network and very low household GPs having less than 150 households at a distance of greater than 10 km from BHQ by satellite.
- (iv) Government  Institutions at the District/Block/GP should be provided horizontal connectivity.
- (v) Internet Protocol/ Multi Level Switching Protocol (IP/MPLS) technology for DHQ/BHQ and BHQ/GP rings may be considered.
- (vi) Three implementation models, namely, State Led, CPSU Led and Private Sector Led, may be considered for accelerated roll out of the network.
- (vii) 50% pairs of dark fibres at GP level may be set aside for allocation to telecom service providers, multi service operators, local cable operators and internet service providers through auction.
- (viii)  Remaining fibre pairs should be provided for bandwidth at wholesale rate to any retail service providers.
- (ix) BBNL should be  empowered  into  Board-led  Company  and  professionalize  decision making  and  accountability  so  that  BBNL's  professional  staff  would  operate  in organizational framework with clearly defined responsibilities and powers;
- (x) De-layering  decision  making  process  by  establishing  an  empowered  project  group headed by MoC&IT and including Secretaries of Department of Telecommunications (DoT),  Department  of  Electronics  and  IT  (DeitY),  Department  of  Economic  Affairs (DEA),  Department  of  Industrial  Policy  &  Promotion  (DIPP),  Rural  Development, Power, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Chairman, BBNL.

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