Govt To Provide Satellite Broadband Internet To 5,000 Village Panchayats In Border, Naxal-Affected Areas By March 2021

In a major development, the government has embarked on a project to connect 5,000 village panchayats in the border and Naxal-affected states, and island territories with satellite-enabled broadband connectivity, reports Economic Times.

The project is to be implemented under the government's ambitious BharatNet programme by March 2021. The government has chosen Hughes Communications India and Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) for implementation of the project.

Under the project, Hughes Communications India will enable broadband internet connectivity in the gram panchayats by utilising the ISRO's GSAT-19 and GSAT-11 satellites along with the Hughes Jupiter System.

As a part of the project, Hughes will also be providing solar-powered network operations and user terminals, installing equipment at every site, and manage the services to ensure speeds of up to 10 megabits per second.

The beneficiary village panchayats lie in states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, island territories of Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar, and Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh.