Punjab's rural areas to be connected with high-speed internet

The state Cabinet has already approved implementation of the project, which would indirectly give a boost to the state GDP

The Punjab government has initiated a project to connect all villages with optical fibre network, an advanced communication technology, with a view to provide high-speed internet connectivity.

A spokesman of the department of governance reforms on Thursday said the state Cabinet had already approved implementation of the project, which would indirectly give a boost to the state gross domestic product (GDP).

He said a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed between Punjab, Union government and Bharat Broadband Network limited(BBNL) to transform the villages into e-villages under this project. He further said this initiative would help bridge the digital gap between rural and urban areas and provide e-services to all gram panchayats.

He said as a pilot project, BBNL had selected 67 blocks covering 6,000 villages to connect with optical fiber network in the first phase. He said this project would be completed by utilising existing fibers of public sector undertakings (PSUs), such as those of BSNL, Railtel and power grid, besides laying incremental fiber to connect to gram panchayats, wherever necessary.

Giving an account of present connectivity, the spokesman said presently optical fibre network (OFC ) connectivity was available in all districts and head quarters which would further connect all blocks and sub-divisions including rural areas.

He added after accomplishment of the project, availability of all citizen-centric services through rural and urban Sewa Kendras would be within the reach of every inhabitant of the state. "Besides other communication services, villagers could also avail internet protocol television (IPTV) having HDTV and range of voice telephony services, video conferencing, video calls etc through this network," he said.