The Andhra Pradesh government has requested the Government of India to facilitate 35 lakh’ Customer Premises Equipment Boxes’ for the optimal utilisation of BharatNet infrastructure in the State. To this end, Andhra Pradesh Infrastructure and Investment Department Secretary S. Suresh Kumar made a detailed presentation to Union Minister of State for Panchayat Raj and Communications Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar and Union Telecommunications Department Secretary Dr Neeraj Mittal at a high-level meeting in New Delhi on Saturday.
Suresh Kumar urged the Centre to reimburse Rs 635 crore spent on IP-Multi Protocol Label Switching technology for BharatNet Phase-II in the state and also requested the Centre to clear the pending payment towards capital expenditure for BharatNet Phase-II.
The Secretary stated, “AP State Fibernet Limited (APSFL) has been dedicated to providing affordable, high-speed broadband connectivity across the state, with a focus on rural and underserved regions. Since its inception, APSFL has connected over 9.7 lakh households, of which about 5 lakh connections are currently active. Additionally, 6,200 schools, 1,978 health centres, 11,254 Gram Panchayats, 5,800 farmers’ support centres, 193 telecom towers, and 9,104 government institutions are also connected by APSFL.”
Suresh Kumar further remarked, “To fully utilise both the APSFL Phase-I network and BharatNet Phase-II infrastructure, there is an urgent need for 35 lakh Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) boxes. APSFL is uniquely positioned to deploy these boxes immediately, thereby delivering swift and impactful results for optimal utilisation of BharatNet. This model could serve as an exemplar for other states, ensuring rapid expansion of digital connectivity across the nation.” He added that APSFL had proactively adopted IP-Multi Protocol Label Switching technology at its own cost during the implementation of BharatNet Phase-II.
He continued, “As the Government of India is funding IP-MPLS deployment under the amended BharatNet Programme for other states under BharatNet Phase-III, APSFL requests reimbursement of Rs 635 crore for pioneering this active technology investment in 2017, ensuring equity among all states and incentivising early adoption.” BBNL, under the CPSU model, has implemented BharatNet Phase-I (Mandal to GP) in 57 mandals and 1,692 Gram Panchayats in the erstwhile districts of Visakhapatnam and Chittoor.
