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CAG says BharatNet fell short of bridging digital divide
The government's rural broadband project BharatNet has failed to bridge the digital divide, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report tabled in Parliament on August 12. While 96.70% of…
The Story in Brief
The government's rural broadband project BharatNet has failed to bridge the digital divide, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report tabled in Parliament on August 12. While 96.70% of targeted gram panchayats have network infrastructure as of November 2025, only 33.20% of service-ready GPs were operational. The CAG found fibre faults caused 48% of downtime, with repairs taking an average of 17 days.
Expenditure on the project stood at Rs 39,888 crore against an approved budget of Rs 42,068 crore. The CAG noted that financial oversight was weak, and BSNL under the CPSU-led model diverted Rs 2,001.43 crore for other purposes, since recouped. Only six states achieved 100% service-ready status, with delays of two to six years.
The Indian Opinion
The CAG report punctures the government narrative that BharatNet is a rural success story. Infrastructure without operations and revenue is a sunk cost. The average 17-day repair time for fibre cuts shows the last-mile maintenance problem remains unsolved. The real test is not how many panchayats have a cable, but how many citizens can actually get a connection. Will the Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh numbers look as bad as the national average suggests they might?
Source: telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
