The target for completion of the BharatNet project has been pushed to 2025. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman also committed that the contracts of laying optical fibres in all villages, including remote areas will be awarded under the BharatNet project through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in 2022-23.
The Government of India’s earlier commitment regarding the completion of the BharatNet project was in 2019, which they haven’t met so far. The government issued a global tender for private players to take on the project through PPP in July 2021.
“Measures will be taken to promote better and more efficient use of the optical fibre and export promotion” said Sitharaman.