INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Government called off a tender for providing rural broadband connectivity due to lack of biddersNew Delhi: State-owned Bharat Broadband
fibre-based high-speed broadband network, following the lack of participation of eligible bidders.The project was approved in June last year
to roll out an optical fibre network under BharatNet in 16 states in a public-private partnership model with a total expense of Rs 29,430
states.The project was divided into nine packages, and tenders for each of the packages were floated separately.For each of the nine
tenders, BBNL on February 8 said the tender of the corresponding package "with all its corrigenda is hereby cancelled on account of
feedback from the industry
The government is committed to connecting villages with broadband at the earliest," the source, who did not wish to be named, said.The
government opted for a public-private partnership after state-owned firms faced several issues in expediting the projects and missed several
deadlines.The BharatNet project was approved in 2011 as the National Optical Fibre Network with an aim to connect all 2.5 lakh panchayats
with the optical fibre network by 2013.The project now has been extended to 2025 now.According to official data, over 1.69 lakh village
panchayats have been made service-ready for broadband services under BharatNet as of December 31, 2021.
