With an outlay of around Rs 34,000 crore, the government aims to connect 150,000 panchayats through 1 million km of additional optical fibre and give bandwidth to telecom players at nearly 75 per cent cheaper rates for broadband and Wi-Fi services in rural areas.
Here is everything you need to know about BharatNet:
Launched in October 2011 as 'National Optical Fibre Network', the government of India initiative aimed at providing high-speed broadband services in over 200,000 gram panchayats of India.
The initiative is aimed at reviving the existing optical fibre network of government-owned corporations -- BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid -- to provide internet connectivity to gram panchayats of India. The project intends to enable the Government of India to provide e-services and e-applications nationally with the help of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Cable TV operators, etc.
BharatNet uses Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) products supplied by United Telecoms Limited (UTL). These are manufactured in India and the technology is indigenously developed by Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).
The total project cost of BharatNet is around Rs 45,000 crore, of which Rs 11,200 crore has been used in the first phase. The second phase, with an outlay of around Rs 34,000 crore, would start from today i.e. November 13.
Status of BharatNet Phase-1
Plan for BharatNet Phase-2
 "BharatNet to connect 1.5 lakh gram panchayats to internet by March 2019")