Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corp signs agreement for BharatNet project implementation
Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation Ltd (TANFINET) on Wednesday signed the Master Service Agreement for the implementation of BharatNet Project in Tamil Nadu (two packages) with various system integrators. The project aims at providing 1 Gbps bandwidth connectivity to all Gram Panchayats. It signed the agreement with L&T (for Package C); ITI Ltd (Package D) and Third-Party Agency BECIL in the presence of Information Technology minister T Mano Thangaraj and IT Secretary Neeraj Mittal.
Later talking to newspersons, the minister said that there was a delay in starting the BharatNet Project as the tender issued in the previous AIADMK government was cancelled and a new tender was issued. After the disposal of the pending litigations in Package A and Package B, the project will be implemented in all the 12,525 Gram Panchayats in Tamil Nadu, he said.
The project will cover Gram Panchayats through optical fibre cable with high-speed bandwidth connectivity. TANFINET is a special purpose vehicle implementing the BharatNet project in Tamil Nadu at a total cost of ₹1,815 crore.
BharatNet enables to provide affordable but quality “digital” services, e-education, telemedicine and triple-play services to all Gram Panchayats. It also aims to provide high speed internet services to government offices, schools, colleges and business enterprises. By providing such services, the project augments the delivery of government services and generates employment in rural areas, the minister said.
To implement the project, four packages - A, B, C and D - were formed district wise and four system integrators were identified, one for each package, along with a Third-Party Agency (TPA) to inspect and audit the implementation.
The Package C will cover 3,326 Gram Panchayats in Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Karur, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Tiruchirappalli districts.
The Package D will cover 3,103 Gram Panchayats in Kanyakumari, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Theni, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Dindigul, Sivagangai districts, he said.
