NEW DELHI The government has connected 1.19 lakh
village blocks in the first phase of BharatNet, the top official overseeing its implementation said.
“1.19 lakh gram panchayats have become service-ready, while 95% of
BharatNet-I has been completed so far,” Sarvesh Singh, chairman of
Bharat Broadband Network, a special purpose vehicle set up for the purpose, told ET.
He said focus was on
infrastructure expansion and attributed delay to several issues such as right-of-way challenges, including forest areas.
“Operations and maintenance is an integral part. It has transformed the infrastructure program into a network project,” he said.