Jharkhand signs agreement for expanding high-speed broadband connectivity across rural areas

New Delhi: The Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) signed an agreement with the Jharkhand government to expand high-speed broadband connectivity across rural areas of the state, an official statement said on Thursday.

The Amended BharatNet Programme -- BharatNet Phase III will cover 26,777 villages across 260 blocks, it said.

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The project implementation and support agreement was signed between DBN, the state government and Jharkhand Digital Infrastructure Corporation Limited (JDICL), according to the statement issued by the state Information and Public Relations Department.

DBN Administrator Shyamal Mishra attended the signing ceremony on behalf of the Centre, while Jharkhand IT Department Secretary Pooja Singhal and Director Madhavi Mishra signed the agreement on behalf of the state government, it said.

The initiative is aimed at strengthening Jharkhand's digital infrastructure and providing a platform for extending broadband services to rural households, government institutions and other users, the statement said.

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Under the programme, 4,387 existing gram panchayats will be upgraded to ring topology, while 4,39,049 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections will be provided over five years.

The project will also extend high-speed broadband connectivity to gram panchayats and non-GP villages on a demand basis, create and upgrade middle-mile infrastructure to improve network capacity and reliability, and establish and operate a State Network Operations Centre (SNOC) in Jharkhand.

Improved broadband availability is expected to enhance access to e-governance, education, healthcare, digital services and other online facilities in rural and underserved areas of the state.

The strengthened network infrastructure will also support the delivery of citizen-centric services and promote greater use of digital platforms by government institutions, the statement said.

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