The Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) has floated a tender on Tuesday for the BharatNet Project worth Rs 19,041 crore to roll out high-speed broadband services in rural areas across 16 states. BBNL told the media that the company invited global tender for the development of BharatNet like upgradation, creation, operation, maintenance, and utilisation through a public-private partnership model across 16 states in 9 separate packages for 30 years of the concession period. The project includes an estimated 3.61 lakh villages, including Gram Panchayats, across Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. The BharatNet that is already existing connected all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) of the country by laying OFC (primarily) between Block and GPs. The BharatNet scope has now improved to connect all the Inhabited Villages, around 6.43 lakhs (inclusive of GPs), of the country. The BharatNet network that is already existing will become part of this project across these 16 States. The deadline for the submission of the bid is August 24, 2021. The project will be implemented on the PPP framework through a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) concession. The ministry told the media that the idea is to enhance the private sector's capability, capacity, and efficiency for O&M, utilisation and revenue generation to make BharatNet more effective and accessible. Additionally, it would serve the aim of BharatNet to have social inclusion through effective delivery of government schemes and citizen-centric services using broadband, and also strengthen e-Governance, e-Education, Telemedicine, e-Banking. The BharatNet infrastructure is a middle mile network that is currently leased to service providers to supply affordable high-speed broadband to the rural population which includes individuals, households, and institutions. Image Source Also read: Tower Infrastructure Trust buys Space Teleinfra at Rs 900 cr Also read: Bharti Airtel, TCS enter strategic partnership to develop 5G in India