Government Expands BharatNet to Connect All Gram Panchayats
Formfees
06/02/2025
To improve telecom services in commercially unviable rural and remote areas of the country, Government has taken up ‘BharatNet’ project for providing broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country and many other mobile projects for provisioning of mobile services with funding from Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) [erstwhile Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)]. As of date, 2,14,323 GPs are service ready in the country. Further, by commissioning of around 16,869 mobile towers, around 22,000 uncovered remote and rural villages / locations have been covered in the country.
For providing mobile service in uncovered villages of North-Eastern Region and Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, Government has undertaken many targeted projects. In North-Eastern states, under the DBN funded schemes, 2,829 mobile towers have been commissioned covering around 3,500 uncovered villages and 286 National Highway locations. Further, in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, 3,449 mobile towers have been commissioned covering 3,505 uncovered locations.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications, Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
