The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a project intended to connect all 45,945 villages in Bihar with optical fibre internet service. The government in a release said that the project will “enable digital revolution to reach the farthest corner” of Bihar. The project is set to cost approximately Rs 1000 crore with Rs 640 crore of capital expenditure set to be funded by the Department of Telecommunications. The government said that the project will be implemented within a span of 180 days with March 31, 2021 set as a scheduled date for completion of the project. Bihar is set to witness the assembly elections between October to November, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian Prime Minister on Monday also laid the foundation stone for nine National Highway projects in Bihar said to be worth Rs 14,000 crores.
Government Set to Enhance Internet Connectivity in Bihar
Modi through a video conference is said to have highlighted that India is among the leading countries in the world in terms of digital transactions. It is said that India witnessed around Rs 3 lakh crore worth transactions through UPI in August, 2020.
The Prime Minister is said to have highlighted that it is “necessary” that the villages across India also have access to high speed internet due to the increase in internet usage across the country.
Modi is said to have touched on the benefits of the high speed internet connectivity such as access to tele-medicine and real time data on weather conditions, a crucial element to farmers.
The optical fibre connectivity to the villages in Bihar is said to be part of the Indian government plans to connect more than six lakh villages within 1000 days with optical fibre.
Bihar Set to be First State in India with Complete Optical Fibre Connectivity
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the release said that “Bihar will be the first state in India” to receive optical fibre connectivity across villages.
It was highlighted in the release that the project aims to provide broadband connectivity in every village of the state through Aerial Optical Fibre. The project is said to deliver a minimum of five Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections and one public WiFI in every village across Bihar. The release highlighted that connections delivered through the project will be equipped with "free bandwidth" for one year.
