Telcos keen on providing internet to gram panchayat via BharatNet last-mile

Airtel has shown interest for 10,000 GPs, for taking 1 Gbps connectivity on lease

Private telecom majors have all shown interest in providing last- mile connectivity in about 43,000 gram panchayats through the BharatNet project.

To make the scheme attractive, the government has announced a rate structure wherein the operators may take the optic fibre on lease and provide broadband connectivity to customers. For asymmetrical bandwidth between block to gram panchayats (GPs), the yearly charges are Rs 700 per Mbps, for up to 10 Mbps. The charges decrease to Rs 200 per Mbps if the operator is leasing the bandwidth for a speed of 1 Gbps.

Rates for any intermediate bandwidth shall be proportionally