BharatNet in Telangana: Centre signs Rs 3,189 crore pact to take fibre to 12,769 gram panchayats

The Centre will spend Rs 3,189 crore rebuilding and extending BharatNet in Telangana under an agreement signed in New Delhi’s Sanchar Bhawan on Friday, 6 November. The fibre network is to reach 12,769 gram panchayats across the state and connect about three lakh village homes.

Five parties put their names to the pact: Digital Bharat Nidhi, the telecom department’s fund for rural connectivity; the Telangana government; Telangana Rural Internet Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TRIICL), which will carry out the work; BSNL; and Telangana Fiber Grid Corporation (T-Fiber). Digital Bharat Nidhi administrator Shyamal Misra presided. Telangana’s IT joint secretary Anudeep Durishetty and TRIICL chief executive Venu Prasad Panneeru were present for the state.

Three kinds of panchayats

The 12,769 figure is made up of three groups. In 1,946 panchayats wired during BharatNet’s first phase, the old linear network will be redrawn as a ring, so traffic can take another path when one stretch of cable is cut. The plan also takes in 10,787 panchayats from the second phase and 36 newly created ones.

Home fibre connections in villages will get Central subsidy. The Department of Telecommunications said the network would carry e-governance, online classes, telemedicine and digital payments to rural Telangana.

Digital Bharat Nidhi is the old Universal Service Obligation Fund, renamed under the Telecommunications Act, 2023. On 4 August 2023 the Union Cabinet cleared the amended BharatNet scheme to upgrade the existing network and link every gram panchayat, with villages added on demand. Telangana has taken the state-led route, in which a state agency runs the rollout.

Andhra Pradesh signed in May

The neighbouring state signed a similar agreement at the same venue on Wednesday, 13 May 2026. It carries Rs 2,432 crore of Central support for 13,426 gram panchayats, with Andhra Pradesh BharatNet Infrastructure Limited as the implementing agency, and aims at over five lakh home connections in villages.

In Telangana the job now passes to TRIICL. The telecom department did not set a completion date in its announcement.