India will soon call for global bids for providing broadband connectivity to 361,000 villages across 16 states in a public-private partnership with government aid, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.
The Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday accorded approval for revised implementation strategy of BharatNet through a public private partnership mode. BharatNet will now extend up to all inhabited villages beyond gram panchayats in the said states.
The revised strategy includes creation, upgradation, operation, maintenance and utilisation of BharatNet by the concessionaire who will be selected by a competitive international bidding process, the government said.