BBNL defers Rs 19,041 cr Bharatnet broadband tender bid date to Sep 14

State-run Bharat Broadband Network Limited has deferred bid dates for Rs 19,041 crore BharatNet broadband tender to September 14 after potential bidders raised more than 2,000 queries on the project.

An official source told PTI that the bid dates are likely to be extended further as the queries need to be vetted by the Department of Telecom as well and the entire process may take a few weeks.

According to the information published on BBNL, the bid date has been deferred from August 24 to September 14 as of now.

Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) has invited global bids for the development (creation, upgradation, operation and maintenance and utilisation) of BharatNet through a public-private partnership model in nine separate packages across 16 states for a concession period of 30 years.

The government has earmarked Rs 19,041 crore viability gap fund for the project.

Under the project, the government plans to cover an estimated 3.61 lakh villages (including gram panchayats) across Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

The existing BharatNet was connecting all the gram panchayats (GPs) of the country by laying OFC (primarily) between Block and GPs.

The scope of BharatNet has now been enhanced to connect all inhabited villages, approximately 6.43 lakhs, of the country.