Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) is planning to take over the operations and maintenance (O&M) work of optical fibre-based infrastructure being laid under the BharatNet programme.

Currently, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is responsible for the entire maintenance of fibre infrastructure under BharatNet. However, BBNL intends to take over the maintenance of incremental fibre that it has laid and has asked the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for permission.

BBNL has utilised BSNL’s existing 200,000 km of optical fibre and laid incremental fibre of around 300,000 km to connect over 127,000 gram panchayats (GPs) with high speed broadband network.