BBNL Satellite net soon to reach North East Indian regions. State-Owned Telecom wraps up the Arunachal pilot project. Internet subscribers looking forward to the completion of this long-awaited project.

To date, the internet connectivity in the North East regions of India was pathetic with very few options made available to subscribers. This comes as a relief to the users in the hilly areas which many service providers find difficult to access.

The State-owned telecos has successfully wrapped up a test project piloted in Arunachal Pradesh. As per the information received from the Indian Telecom Ministry, the whole project and the tariff plans will be put into place once more tests are conducted in the other North Eastern States of our sub-continent.

“The costs are likely to be very reasonable, keeping in mind the government’s aim of extending the reach of the internet to as many people as possible. The revenue shortfall for the implementing agencies, whether government or private, is likely to be met from the USOF (universal service obligation fund), ”remarked a senior Telecom Ministry official.

BBNL is the agency responsible for the implementation of BharatNet Project. The current BBNL plan is to provide satellite-based internet to around 7,000-gram panchayats and other regions that are quite remote throughout the country. BharatNet will have to acquire 4 satellite gateways with 2 high-powered satellites to cover all the 7000 panchayats.

Likely Competitors

BBNL may face stiff competition from other providers who are also undertaking similar projects. The Telecom industry is witnessing a high level of competition between the State-owned provider and private operators. The players in the forefront are:-

• Amazon’s Project Kuiper
• Bharti Group’s One Web
• Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet Services

BBNL is marching ahead boldly even though there are certain roadblocks in its path. The shortage of revenues will be compensated as there is a funding of Rs 60,000 crores from the Universal Service Obligation Fund-USOF.

The feasibility of providing internet via fibre cable is almost impossible due to accessibility issues in the North East regions. This is where the satellite-based net connectivity brings hope to such remote areas.