The Indian government said that Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) has been laid over 35.5 lakh route kilometers at the end of September. This will facilitate the growing demand for better bandwidth, resilience and high volume connectivity. ” Major cities and towns across the States/ UTs (explain the full form of this) are adequately connected. BharatNet project is implemented in a phased manner to provide fiber connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country.
The BharatNet project’s scope has been extended to all inhabited villages beyond GPs in the country”, Union Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced plans to provide broadband connectivity in all 6 lakh villages in the country.
The optical fiber cable is capable of handling the enormous amount of bandwidth required for 5G connectivity. Furthermore, the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016 have been amended on 17th August 2022 to facilitate faster and easier deployment of telecom infrastructure.
These amendments pave the way for the deployment of 5G small cells and optical fiber cable on existing street infrastructure.
“In urban areas, optical fiber is available. In rural areas, BharatNet has enabled us to reach 1.89 lakh villages so far. The target is to reach 2.2 lakh by the middle of next year for which the work is going on,” Rajaraman said.
