Gujarat Leads Nation with State-Led Rollout of Amended BharatNet Program
The Government of India, through the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN), signed a quadripartite agreement with the Government of Gujarat, BSNL, and Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Limited (GFGNL) to implement the Amended BharatNet Program (ABP) under the State-Led Model. This milestone was formalized in Gandhinagar in the presence of senior officials including Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary (Telecom), Shri Pankaj Joshi, Chief Secretary (Gujarat), and others.
With this agreement, Gujarat becomes the first among eight Indian states to officially operationalise the ABP, covering 14,654 Gram Panchayats and aiming for over 98% network uptime—a first in rural digital empowerment.
Funded with ₹5,631 crore for capital and maintenance over 10 years, the program will provide high-speed fiber connectivity to villages, unlocking benefits in education, healthcare, governance, livelihood, and digital commerce. It also includes on-demand connectivity for non-GP villages.
The project will unlock advanced digital infrastructure via innovations such as:
- Fiber to Far-Flung Towers – improving mobile coverage in remote areas
- Fiber to Field Offices – enabling grassroots digital governance
- Fiber to Families – extending broadband to households
- Fiber to Financial Enterprises – powering fintech and entrepreneurship
The network will use MPLS technology with 10 Gbps links at Block level and 1 Gbps at GP level. Over 1.5 crore rural households and institutions are targeted to receive FTTH broadband over the next five years.
BSNL has been appointed as Project Management Agency and will oversee implementation through a DBOM (Design, Build, Operate & Maintain) model, with March 2027 set as the rollout completion deadline.
Gujarat continues to lead India’s digital transformation, setting a precedent for inclusive, resilient, and future-ready rural broadband connectivity.
Source: PIB
