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The Centre will offer a subsidy of around Rs 500 crore for setting up rural business process outsourcing (BPO) units to create around 150,000 jobs.
"A subsidy of Rs 498 crore for setting up 48,000 seats in rural areas will be given on a per seat basis," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said during a meeting with state information technology ministers. The Centre will provide 50 per cent of the capital expenditure or Rs 1 lakh per seat, whichever is lower.
Expressions of Interest would be invited under the new scheme after state governments give their inputs, the minister said. The duration is till March 31, 2017.
"Of the Rs 498 crore, Rs 10 crore is earmarked for creating awareness and publicity," Information Technology Secretary R S Sharma said. "The scheme will benefit about 500,00 people."
Seven states, including West Bengal, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh, have proposed their own model for setting up broadband networks under the Centre's ambitious National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project. The project is a key part of the government's Digital India initiative.
Except Delhi and some northeastern states, most others attended the meeting to discuss a new model to roll out the broadband network.
The Centre has offered a choice between a model operated by public sector undertakings, another using Special Purpose Vehicles or state-run agencies, and a private model.
The project, which aims to connect 250,000 panchayats by 2016, is being operated by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd and is being implemented by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), RailTel and Power Grid.
"If state governments opt for the state-led model, the existing NOFN architecture will migrate," Prasad said.
The committee set up for revamping the project has recommended renaming it BharatNet. It has also estimated a three-fold increase in the project's cost to Rs 72,778 crore, from the Rs 20,000 crore approved earlier.
Andhra Pradesh's advisor for e-governance and infotech, J Satyanarayana, said the state government expected to roll out a broadband network in 36 months with download speeds of 10 megabit per second for Rs 150 per month.
"Under BharatNet, broadband availability will be 99.9 per cent compared with 96 per provisioned under the NOFN project. This means service can be down only for nine hours in a year compared with 350 hours under the NOFN," V Umashankar, joint secretary in the department of telecommunications, said.
BharatNet proposes broadband connectivity to households and even to government institutions in districts.
