NEW DELHI: Polycab India Limited, a Gujarat-based optic fibre maker, has bagged BharatNet initiative by Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation Limited (Tanfinet), under Package – A at a cost of Rs 509-crore, to deploy 16,500 kilometres of fibre network within a year’s time frame.

“We have been given the all-important responsibility of a Master System Integrator (MSI) by the Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation, to implement the BharatNet Phase-II project in nine districts under Package A in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs. 509 crore, under the master service agreement,” Ashish D Jain , Executive President & COO, Telecom Business at Polycab India told ETTelecom.

Earlier, the company has completed BharatNet-II programs in Bihar and Gujarat in a record time as a consortium player.

“We have asked to provide end-to-end connectivity with high-speed bandwidth using optical fibre cable in 3,095 gram panchayats (village blocks) across 9 districts of the state under Package A,” Jain said, adding that of the 16,500 kilometres of cable laying, 85% of it, would involve overhead or aerial deployment.

Under the Tamil Nadu initiative, Polycab’s scope of work would involve site survey, design, fiber laying, integration and commissioning as well as operations and maintenance (O&M) to enable gram panchayats in the demarcated districts with a minimum scalable bandwidth of 1Gbps.

The Gujarat-based company, as per the agreement conditions, would also set up a state NOC (Network Operations Centre) at Chennai to integrate all village blocks under the project, including those under the other three packages.
Polycab, according to Jain, would be involved in continuous monitoring of the performance and health of the entire network in BharatNet-II in Tamil Nadu.

Inder Jaisinghani-headed company uniquely deployed the optical fibre-led initiative in Gujarat, and lit up as many as 3,650 village blocks creating a digital highway bridging the divide, and bringing government-to-citizen (G2C) services to as many as 67,75,000 rural households in the state.

Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Limited (GFGNL), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) deployed the BharatNet initiative together with Polycab and GTPL Hathway Limited.

In Bihar, the company linked village blocks with state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) exchanges, and laid 3,785 kilometres of optical cable in 65 blocks across 6 districts in Bihar.

Jain is optimistic to complete the Tanfinet program within the prescribed deadline, saying the company has uniquely distributed the entire initiative into monthly targets, and added that Tamil Nadu is a cyclone-prone area that makes it very tough for a master system integrator to maintain a service-level agreement (SLA) of 99%.

Polycab, as per agreement conditions, would undertake operations and maintenance (O&M) for four years that includes one year of warranty period for the Tanfinet program.

Tamil Nadu is of the late entrants into the ambitious BharatNet program that aims to connect 2.5 lakh village blocks encompassing more than 6 lakh villages nationwide with high-speed Internet to bridge digital divide.

In 2020, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had to intervene and scrap the notice inviting tender (NIT) floated by Tanfinet following allegations of restrictive and discriminatory conditions in the wake of a complaint by a local non-profit organisation Arappor Iyakkam.