Telecom + OTT
Government schemes

What BharatNet can learn from the rural-roads scheme: involve states, local bodies, private sector

What BharatNet can learn from the rural-roads scheme: involve states, local bodies, private sector
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Villagers pose with mobile phones and laptops at Bibinagar village on the outskirts of Hyderabad on March 7, 2013.

Synopsis

BharatNet appears to be foundering. It has a top-down approach with little involvement of the states, implementing agencies, or vendors. In contrast, PMGSY, considered a success, works in a bottom-up manner. Its implementation mechanism involves a dedicated agency from the user ministry, PWD, rural-road development agencies, gram panchayats, private operators, etc.

8 mins read,
By Rekha Jain With the Internet increasingly becoming the driver of economic growth and considering its poor penetration in rural India, the government came up with the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project in 2012. It was an ambitious programme to provide high-speed connectivity to 2,50,000 gram panchayats (GP) by 2015. NOFN was designed to incrementally provide the fibre from the sub-district to the GP, as it was presumed that the
( Originally published on Feb 13, 2020 )

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