HFCL Wins Rs. 2,501 Cr. Order for BharatNet Phase-III Project
HFCL Limited has won an order worth Rs. 2,510.30 crore for executing works on middle-mile network in BharatNet phase-III project. The company has secured this order from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
The company had emerged Lowest (L1) bidder for this project in November 2024.
HFCL’s Scope of Work for BharatNet Phase-III Project
HFCL will be responsible executing works pertaining to design, supply, construction and installation of middle-mile network* in Punjab under BharatNet phase-III. The company will also provide Operation & Maintenance (O&M) services for this project. This order will be executed on Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain (DBOM) basis.
*Middle-mile network refers to the network that connects last mile or the local area network to rest of the internet infrastructure.
Details of HFCL’s BharatNet Order in Punjab
As per the aforementioned order, HFCL will develop middle-mile network in Punjab over a period of 3 years at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,244.61 crore.
Once the network is layed, the company will also be responsible for its Operation & Maintenance for a period of 10 years. HFCL will execute O&M for this network at 5.5% of the development cost for the first 5 years, and at 6.5% of the development cost for the next five years. Therefore, HFCL will execute O&M works worth a total of Rs. 746.76 crore over a period of 10 years for this to-be-laid BharatNet middle-mile network in Punjab.
Apart from this, HFCL will also undertake O&M for existing BharatNet middle-mile network in Punjab. For the existing network, O&M works will be executed at a cost of about Rs. 509.94 crore.
Overview of BharatNet Phase-III Project
The BharatNet project is expected to increase the size of India’s fibre roll out service market. The third phase of BharatNet project targets to deliver high-speed internet to remote and rural areas of the country. BharatNet phase-III will connect 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats and minimum of 100 Mbps bandwidth will be provided to each Gram Panchayat.
About HFCL Ltd.: HFCL was founded in 1987, and has its headquarters in Delhi. It caters primarily to the communication sector through optical fibre cables and transmission & access equipment manufacturing. HFCL has optical fibre cables manufacturing facilities in Goa and Hyderabad. HTL Limited, the company’s subsidiary, also has an optical fibre cables manufacturing plant in Chennai. The company has a Cable Reinforcement Solutions Plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
