Rural broadband is the backbone of last-mile service delivery. Critically analyse BharatNet's achievements and bottlenecks.

BharatNet was first funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund. That fund is now Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 [1]. BharatNet is meant to carry e-Governance, telemedicine and digital payments to every Gram Panchayat (GP). The CAG calls it a substantial infrastructural success that has not yet closed the digital divide [3].

Achievements

• Backbone built: Tamil Nadu alone had 10,869 of 12,525 GPs service-ready by December 2025 [2].
• Bigger ambition: the Amended BharatNet Program (2023) has an outlay of ₹1,39,579 crore, which includes 10 years of running costs (OPEX). It extends fibre to villages on demand [4].
• Cooperative federalism: under the State-led model, States work through their own agencies. Gujarat does this, and Tamil Nadu uses TANFINET [4][2].
• Shift to use: the October 2026 Tamil Nadu Utilisation Agreement subsidises over 5 lakh rural home fibre (FTTH) connections. It also gives on-demand connectivity to 4,767 villages [1].

Bottlenecks

• Idle capacity: only 17.91% of available bandwidth was used between 2017-18 and 2022-23 [3]. Only 30% of GPs had a working connection in February 2026 [5].
• Last-mile gap: Tamil Nadu had just 808 BharatNet FTTH connections against 10,869 ready GPs [2]. Wi-Fi hotspots worked in only 766 of about 1 lakh GPs [6].
• Delays and poor planning: the Phase-II deadline slipped from 2019 to 2025. Work was abandoned in 16,271 GPs because local needs were poorly assessed [3].
• Governance lapses: BSNL diverted ₹2,001.43 crore (since recovered). Unused fibre (dark fibre) was not leased out because State agencies had no leasing policy [3].
• Execution hurdles: slow tenders, weak agency capacity and delayed right-of-way clearances [5][3].

Critical assessment The main problem is no longer building the network but getting people to use it. Targets counted GPs connected, not homes subscribed. ABP's OPEX funding and its subsidy for use address the right gap. But a subsidy alone cannot create demand where devices, digital skills and local content are missing.

BharatNet has built the backbone but has not yet delivered the last mile. The way forward is to pay for each active connection, lease idle fibre to local ISPs, and carry out the State-wise performance audit the Standing Committee recommended [5]. If progress is measured by active connections rather than lit GPs, BharatNet can advance SDG 9 and bring digital inclusion to rural India.