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Amended BharatNet Program operationalises in Gujarat

Published: Jun 25, 2025

By TIOLCorplaws News Service

NEW DELHI, JUNE 25, 2025: THE Government of India through Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), yesterday signed a quadripartite Agreement with Government of Gujarat, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Limited (GFGNL) under the Amended BharatNet Program (ABP). The agreement was signed in presence of Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary (Telecom), GoI, Pankaj Joshi, Chief Secretary, Gujarat, Niraj Verma, Administrator, Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), DoT and Mona K. Khandhar, Principal Secretary, DST Gujarat at Gandhinagar, The Agreement enables handing over of all the BharatNet works, activities and responsibilities including all related and incidental matters in Gujarat to GFGNL and enables GFGNL to undertake Amended BharatNet Program schemes.

This agreement marks a major milestone in Gujarat's ongoing strides in rural digital infrastructure and comes after the state received in-principle approval of Rs.5631 crore for capital expenditure and 10 years of operations and maintenance. Gujarat holds the distinction of being the first among eight states in the country undertaking BharatNet under State-led model and to secure approval for the Amended BharatNet Program.

Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the DBN and state government aims to achieve more than 98% service uptime even in the remotest parts of Gujarat through upgraded and future-ready digital connectivity infrastructure.

Amended Bharatnet Rollout in Gujarat

The successful rollout of Amended BharatNet will enable seamless and uniform digital connectivity across all 14654 Gram Panchayats and all non-GP villages in Gujarat on demand basis. With state-of-the-art infrastructure and a target of over 98% service uptime, the programme will provide rural communities with high-speed internet access and reliable digital platforms-enhancing education, healthcare, livelihoods, and overall quality of life.

This initiative will empower government departments to directly engage with citizens through digital governance and value-added services tailored for farmers, students, women, and consumers-driving inclusive growth and improving the livelihood index of previously underserved populations.

The execution of the Amended BharatNet Program will further reinforce the distinctiveness of Gujarat government, establishing a futuristic, telecom-grade network to support integrated governance, digital commerce, and community empowerment across remote regions.

The project will also unlock the full value of the fiber infrastructure through innovations such as:

- Fiber to Far-Flung Towers - boosting mobile connectivity and signal strength in rural areas

- Fiber to Field Offices - enabling real-time, grassroots-level governance

- Fiber to Families - delivering high-speed broadband with value-added digital services

- Fiber to Financial Enterprises - facilitating rural fintech growth and entrepreneurship

About Amended BharatNet Programme

The Union Cabinet approved the Amended BharatNet Program (ABP) on 4th August 2023, to be funded through the Digital Bharat Nidhi. This enhanced initiative aims to deliver optical fiber (OF) connectivity using MPLS technology to 2.64 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in ring topology, and also extend connectivity to approximately 3.8 lakh non-GP villages on a demand-driven basis.

To ensure smooth implementation, BSNL has been appointed as the Project Management Agency (PMA). BSNL will engage professional Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) to execute the project under a Design, Build, Operate & Maintain (DBOM) model. The timeline for the upgradation of the existing BharatNet infrastructure and creation of around 42,000 new GPs is set for March 2027.

The salient features of program are:

i. Program cost of INR 1,39,579 crores including CAPEX cost of Rs.  42,847 crores and OPEX cost for ten years at Rs 48.717 crores.

ii. To upgrade ~1.64 lakh GPs (excluding 53,265 GPs in ring under State led model) & to create remaining ~47 K GPs (including Satellite GPs)

iii. IP-MPLS network at Block and GPS with provision of Routers with 10 Gbps downward links in Blocks and 1 Gbps downward links at GPS.

iv. O&M of ~2.64 lakh GPs with SLA for network uptime

vi. Last-Mile Network to be implemented through BharatNet Udyami model

vii. Minimum 25 Mbps download speed for each FTTH subscriber.

viii. To provide one crore fifty lakh (1.5) Crore FTTH connections across rural households/ institutions/ enterprises in India over a period of five (5) years

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