Ambitious BharatNet all set to be rolled out

CHENNAI: The ‘BharatNet Project’ will be rolled out to one-third of the revenue villages in Tamil Nadu by March 31, 2021, and to the remaining villages by November 30, 2021. This was announced by Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his customary address to the State Assembly. The Rs 1,815-crore project will benefit 12,524 villages, which will be connected through optical fibre network and will be provided with not less than 1 GBPS high speed network connectivity in each village.

“By combining BharatNet with Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network (TNSWAN), TamilNet and TACTV’s broadcast infrastructure, a convergent digital service delivery platform – Unified Digital Infrastructure – will be built to deliver high-speed, scalable bandwidth to all households in the State,” said the Governor. Under the project, the rural Tamil Nadu will be covered by BharatNet and the urban parts by TN FibreNet corporation.

Once the project is implemented, it will ensure adequate bandwidth for the next 20 years. The aim of the network is to provide e-services, e-commerce and e-knowledge to rural areas. It will not only bridge the digital divide but is also expected to provide rural areas with a window to the world.

Official sources told Express that the financial bids are being evaluated and soon the State government will announce the tenders. “Once the tenders are finalised, it will take seven to eight months to implement the project if all goes well,” the official added. He said the entire project is divided into four packages.

The Governor added that TN, which is at the forefront of utilising Information and Communication Technology to ensure enhanced public service delivery, was awarded the Gold Award by the President of India, in the ‘Excellence in Digital Governance’ category at the Digital India Awards, 2020.