The Tamil Nadu government is finally taking steps to launch the BharatNet project in its geography. The state is pretty late to join the party but intends to act fast. BharatNet project is an initiative of the central government to bring fast internet connectivity to all gram-panchayats and villages in the country. The Tamil Nadu government has now confirmed that the launch of the BharatNet project in the state is in 'active' progress. The state aims to cover all the rural areas with high-speed broadband connectivity by the end of next year.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services of Tamil Nadu, said that there are already some tier-2 cities in the state, which are fortunate enough to get decent internet connectivity. The minister added that the government's vision is to offer internet connectivity at a speed of 100 Mbps through BharatNet in rural areas, as per PTI.
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The minister blamed the previous government for delays with the BharatNet project. Rajan said that by this time next year, there should be fiber-based 100 Mbps internet connectivity covering all the panchayats in Tamil Nadu. With internet connectivity reaching rural places of the state, its economy is surely to boost as the market size for online business grows. Further, there would be more opportunities for the citizens to earn online and get access to learning opportunities, which they wouldn't have if the internet was not there.
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The BharatNet Project is funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Under the project, all the rural places in India are marked to receive fiber based internet connectivity. The project was launched in 2011 and to execute it, the central government had formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL). Earlier in 2023, BBNL was merged with BSNL with an aim to fast-track fiber rollout with efficiency.
