The consortium of companies led by ITI has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for projects by BSNL in two states, with orders totalling up to Rs 3022 crore, the company informed on November 7.
BSNL had invited tenders for the middle-mile network of the BharatNet project in 16 circles, and the ITI-led consortium has succeeded in two of of 11 packages for which tenders have opened till now. These tenders are for Himachal Pradesh under Package 8, and in West Bengal, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for Package 9, the company said.
Rajesh Rai, Chairman and Managing Director, ITI said, "We are delighted to have emerged as L1 for the prestigious BharatNet phase-3 project in the states of Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal, Sikkim, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. BharatNet is a nation building project and it gives me immense satisfaction to be part of the execution of this gigantic project."
ITI-led consortium is assisting Centre in connecting urban as well as rural India seamlessly through a web of 4G networks. The BharatNet III project has attracted a large number of bidders from both private sector as well as state-owned enterprises.
State-run BSNL had floated a tender worth around Rs 65,000 crore to implement the third phase of the BharatNet project, earlier this year. This phase of rural internet connectivity under the BharatNet project will target to bring all 6.4 lakh Villages, Blocks, and Gram Panchayats online with high-speed broadband internet connectivity.
The middle-mile connectivity will involve private players to operate and maintain the project for 10 years, and the last-mile connectivity, which is village-to-household, will be provided through the 'Udyami' model of village-level entrepreneurs who will help the government to take the fiber connections to the homes on a 50:50 revenue-sharing basis.
ITI is already executing optical fibre network projects worth around Rs 5,400 crore in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. It is the Project Implementation Agency (PIA) for MahaNet-I (BharatNet Phase II) in Maharashtra.
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