Big players eyeing Indias ambitious rural broadband project BharatNet

Top Indian telecom companies multinational gear makers and system integrators are eyeing the second phase of Indias ambitious yet controversial rural broadband project BharatNetThe Indian government promised support of up to Rs 19041 crore 257 billion and greater clarity around viability gap funding VGF which resulted in greater interest from private companiesBharti Airtel Vodafone Group Plc Reliance Jios tower arm Infratel STL Cisco Larson Toubro Hughes Communications Indus Towers RailTel Corporation of India Power Grid Corporation of India Hinduja Global Solutions and Tejas Networks are among 40 companies that have shown interest so farAll these companies looking to participate in the project through the public-private partnership PPP route attended the pre-bid conference organised by the government to roll out the second phase of BharatNetThe second phase is aiming to connect 361 lakh 361000 villages through a fibre optic network by August 2023 The Indian government through its Common Service Centre and state-run BSNL connected nearly 100000-gram panchayats or villages in the first phase of the projectThe pandemic has resulted in a greater need for connectivity across India and more so in rural parts of the country The Economic Times reported that private players especially telecom operators see a better business case with a strong appetite for fast broadband services in rural IndiaIndustry experts told the publication that rural consumers now require reliable high-speed internet to access online education and health services among others The use cases can now potentially offer better returns on investments under the project for private playersPreviously there was less clarity around VGF with most of the government discourse being around facilitating Right of Way RoW clearances STL Group CEO Anand Agarwal was quoted as saying by the publicationThe defined quantum of VGF viability gap funding available for each BharatNet project package for separate geographies is driving industry interest Agarwal saidHowever companies like Hughes said that the VGF of Rs 19041 crore is inadequate to cover the targeted 361 lakh villages including GPs across 16 states and sustain it for 30 yearsUnder the BharatNet project the Ministry of Electronics and IT has mapped the country into nine zones with the highest net worth criteria set for Uttar Pradesh East Rs 1206 crore16297 million followed by Punjab Himachal Pradesh and Haryana at Rs 1078 crore14568 each and Assam being the lowest at Rs 325 crores4392Experts said that the net worth criteria specified for service providers might lead to the disqualification of several smaller companies from the second phase of the projectInterestingly the MeiTYs Common Service Center network which rolled out connections under the first phase of BharatNet may not be eligible for bidding in many circles due to the high-net-worth criteria for the second phase The CSC has a net worth of around Rs 300 crore4054 millionRelated article Indian telcos get nod to use satellite-based backhaul for mobile services