The government has proposed to allocate Rs8,000 crore for Bharat Net project for providing broadband services in 1.5 lakh gram panchayats. Unveiling the Union Budget in Parliament, finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs10,000 crore for expansion of telecom infrastructure managed by the Department of Telecom (DoT). “I have provided Rs10,000 crore in 2018-19 for creation and augmentation of this telecom infrastructure,” he said in his budget speech while referring to work done under government’s Bharat Net project. As per the document, the government has proposed to allocate Rs8,000 crore for Bharat Net project for providing broadband services in 1.5 lakh gram panchayats. The Bharat Net project aims to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats by March 2019.

Source: Mint February 01, 2018 13:41 UTC