Lack of enough number of participants forced Bharat Broadband Nigam (BBNL) to cancel its Rs 19,000 crore tender that was floated for connecting villages across 16 states with an optical fibre-based high-speed broadband network.
The project was approved in June 2021 to roll out an optical fibre network under BharatNet in 16 states in a public-private partnership (PPP) model with a total expense of Rs 29,430 crore.
The Centre had approved a viability gap fund of Rs 19,041 crore for the project that aimed to connect 3.61 lakh villages across 16 states.
The tender will be floated again after taking feedback from the industry. The government is committed to connecting villages with broadband at the earliest.
