Bharatnet: Odisha bets on fibre grid for high-speed broadband

Odisha has an overall teledensity of about 80% and rural teledensity of about 50%. Out of 51,313 villages, more than 10,000 do not have mobile coverage. But that is changing, thanks to the continuous efforts made by the state government to push BharatNet project to bring high-speed broadband facility across all the gram panchayats.

Under phase-I of this project, basic infrastructure for connectivity like pipelines and wires have been laid in 3,676 gram panchayats out of a total 3,860 gram panchayats of 100 blocks in 18 districts. According to a senior government official, the point-to-point testing have been completed across 3,676 gram panchayats and fibre-based internet connectivity have been operationalised in 84 gram panchayats.