Public entities will now automatically grant permissions for laying optical fibre in rural areas under the BharatNet Project after the central government designated it as a “special project” in “public interest” under the Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024, effective January 1. No access fees will be charged by public entities, such as public works department and municipal authorities, though permissions and applicable charges will still apply for right of way over private property.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (1) of rule 12 of the Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024, the Central Government, in public interest, hereby notifies the ‘BharatNet’, as a special project for the establishment of telecommunication network,” states the gazette notification issued on January 1.
Under Rule 12 of the RoW Rules notified in September, the central government can designate projects as “special projects” in “public interest”. For such projects, all permissions for establishing overground or underground networks will be “deemed to have been granted” and the digital portal will automatically generate a “deemed permission”. The public entity in charge must provide terms and conditions within seven days.
“BharatNet has been a high priority for the Indian government’s digital expansion as in combination with 5G, it will serve the connectivity needs of India’s massive rural expanse,” said Aprajita Rana, partner at AZB & Partners. “The project has been underway for some time, and is known to face RoW challenges, mostly due to delay in permissions from multiple states and panchayats. This notification will help streamline the RoW timelines for this project.”
The seamlessness for granting permissions will work only if authorities at state level also coordinate, Rana said. “While the rules provide for linking portals of other departments with the central portal, it is not yet clear how it will practically play out,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}The seamlessness for granting permissions will work only if authorities at state level also coordinate, Rana said. “While the rules provide for linking portals of other departments with the central portal, it is not yet clear how it will practically play out,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Minister of state for communications, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, told the Lok Sabha in November that the government had faced RoW issues in multiple states while expanding telecom infrastructure in rural and remote areas.
The UPA-II government established BharatNet as the National Optical Fibre Network in October 2011, initially aiming to connect 250,000 gram panchayats within two years. The deadline has been revised multiple times, with goals expanded to include villages without gram panchayats.
The Universal Service Obligation Fund, now called Digital Bharat Nidhi, funds the project. Initial costs were estimated at ₹20,000 crore, with similar private investment expected. The cabinet approved ₹42,068 crore for the first two phases, with ₹39,825 crore disbursed by end-2023. The programme was later amended at ₹1,39,579 crore to address earlier shortcomings.
As of December 2, 2024, BharatNet has connected 214,289 gram panchayats against the planned 222,343 in the first two phases, according to the official USOF website.