BBNL Defers Rs 19,041 crore BharatNet Tender bid date to September 14

Bharat Broadband Network Limited, the state-run broadband service provider, has deferred the bid dates for the BharatNet project to September 14.

BharatNet Bid Date Deferred

The move came after potential bidders raised more than 2,000 queries on the project. An official source told PTI that the DoT and BBNL can push the date even further; the parties will have to answer all of the questions related to the project. For now, the company has pushed the date to September 14.

Incidentally, the company had invited global bids to develop the ambitious BharatNet project. The government allowed for a public-private partnership earlier this year. As such, BBNL sought bids that will cover not only the deployment, but also the subsequent maintenance and upgradation. The company also seeks a bid that will cover operating and utilizing the assets.

The government will seek a PPP model in 9 separate packages across 16 states for a concession period of 30 years. Notably, the government has also set Rs 19,041 crore viability gap fund aside for the project.

Under the project, the government plans to cover an estimated 3.61 lakh villages (including gram panchayats). The government will cover villages in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The BharatNet project will seek to connect all the villages of the country - all the 6.43 lakhs - via OFC.