Indian Villages Go Digital: Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, SP Singh Baghel informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that over 2 lakh gram panchayats in India have been made service-ready under a project that aims to provide affordable high-speed internet to rural India.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) implemented BharatNet project in a phased manner to provide broadband services to all gram panchayats in the country, informed Baghel in a written reply.

The minister highlighted that the Bharat Net project’s infrastructure is a vital national resource, open to all service providers without bias. He said that it can be utilised to provide broadband services such as Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, leased lines, dark fibre, backhaul to mobile towers, etc.

Furthermore, the Minister informed the house that as of February 2025, 2,14,323 gram panchayats have been made service-ready under the project.

Indian Villages Go Digital: What Else Did The Minister Said?

He also informed the Parliament that the Union Cabinet has approved the Amended Bharat Net Program (ABP) under the “design, built, operate and maintain” (DBOM) model to upgrade the existing network of BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II, create a network in around 42,000 gram panchayats that are not yet service-ready and for operation and maintenance for 10 years.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been tasked with providing 15 million Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections to households over the next five years, said the Minister, adding that the timeline for completion of the ABP is March 2027.

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