CSCs will provide free BharatNet services: Ravi Shankar Prasad

The Government on Wednesday said that it will provide free Internet for the next three months to all the villages connected through Common Service Centres (CSCs).

Speaking here at an event, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, said that the villages connected to BharatNet will get WiFi services free of charge till March 2020.

“We have already connected 1.3 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) through BharatNet. Our target is to take this to 2.5 lakh GPs. To promote utilisation of BharatNet services we will provide free WiFi in all villages connected through BharatNet till March 2020,” Prasad said while inaugurating Digital Village Gurawara in Rewari (Haryana).

There are 3.60 lakh CSCs in around 2.25 lakh GPs today. Till now, WiFi is available in 48,000 villages.