Centre launches national broadband mission, envisages an investment of Rs 7 lakh crore

NEW DELHI: The government Tuesday launched a national broadband mission that aims to connect 600,000 villages across India at an estimated outlay of Rs 7 lakh crore including a 10% contribution from the state reserve over a period of next 3-4 years.

“The national broadband mission is a transformative program to connect all villages,” telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, and added that the government aims to offer Internet speed upto 50 Mbps in a phased manner.

“Some of the broadband mission’s salient features include taking optical fibre connectivity to 50 lakh kilometres from the current 22 lakh kilometres, and deploying 10 lakh mobile towers from the present 5.65 lakh sites in next 3-4 years,” Prasad said.

Prasad also said that the government expects 70% of mobile towers to be fiberised in next few years, and said that telecom operators should improve Quality of Service (QoS).