BharatNet Project: Dept of telecommunications to float tender to invite private players

The department of telecommunications (DoT) is soon going to come out with a request for proposal (RFP) or tender inviting private players to participate in the BharatNet project under the public private partnership (PPP) model. The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), which is an inter-ministerial panel and highest decision-making body of DoT, is scheduled to discuss the RFP proposal and concessionaire agreement on July 5. The DoT aims to connect 3.6 lakh villages in 16 states under PPP mode in 18 months.

As per officials, all the 6 lakh villages in the country will be connected with optical fibre by August 2023. The Union Cabinet had earlier this week approved a revised implementation strategy for the BharatNet project by opting for PPP mode in 16 states to cover around 3,60,000 villages at a total cost of Rs 29,430 crore. Of this, the government will provide Rs 19,041 crore as viability gap funding.