BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Odisha government has proposed the Ministry of Communications to implement BharatNet Phase-II as part of the ‘Ghar Tak Fibre Scheme’ in the State, the Centre clarified that the proposal is incomplete.
Replying to an unstarred question by Rajya Sabha member Sujeet Kumar recently, Union Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said a detailed project report (DPR) titled ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ and based on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model was received from Odisha government last year.
“Though a revised proposal dated January 13, 2022 to execute the project under PPP model has been received, it is not accompanied with any DPR,” he clarified.
BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all panchayats in the country. While Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed in 2,511 GPs till December 31 in Phase-I in Odisha, the Phase-II will be implemented by the State government, which is also responsible for its utilisation.
The work of providing broadband facility (wi-fi) hotspots and fibre- to-home connections) in Phase-I GPs has been implemented with funding from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
The Union Cabinet has enhanced the scope of BharatNet for connecting all inhabited villages in the country, including the villages of Odisha.
The infrastructure created under the BharatNet project is national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to the service providers. It can be utilised for provisioning of broadband/internet services through Wi-Fi hotspots, fibre to the home connections, leased lines, dark fibre and back-haul to mobile towers.
The Ministry has informed that with 6,099 villages having no mobile and internet services, Odisha has the highest number of villages in the country without mobile connectivity followed by Madhya Pradesh (2,612), Maharashtra (2,328) and Arunachal Pradesh (2,223).
On November 17 last year, the Union Cabinet had approved a scheme to set up mobile towers in 3,933 uncovered villages in Odisha with an investment of `3,219 crore to provide high-speed mobile and internet connectivity.