SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir, along with Ladakh, has received Rs 887.60 crore under BharatNet and other Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) projects over the last five financial years, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
In a written reply to an unstarred question, Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said Rs 298.20 crore was disbursed under BharatNet, while Rs 589.40 crore was released for mobile and other DBN projects, taking the total allocation for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to Rs 887.60 crore during the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
The Centre said the Amended BharatNet Programme, approved in August 2023, aims to upgrade or create broadband infrastructure in 2.65 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country using ring topology. As of June 30, 2026, 13,494 Gram Panchayats had been upgraded under the programme nationwide.
The ministry further informed that, under various DBN-funded mobile connectivity projects, 23,426 4G towers had been made operational, extending mobile services to 33,493 villages and locations across the country by the end of June 2026.
It also said that 4,11,464 public Wi-Fi hotspots had been established nationwide under the Prime Minister’s Wireless Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme.
On monitoring telecom infrastructure, the Government said the BharatNet network is continuously monitored through Network Operations Centres, with regular reviews of performance reports to identify network issues and ensure timely restoration of services, particularly in underserved areas.
