The Narendra Modi government has announced free WiFi for all the villages connected via Bharatnet till March 2020. This step was taken to promote the use of Bharatnet services.

Currently, 1.3 lakh gram panchayats are connected through Bharatnet of which 48,000 villages have access to WiFi. The government’s target is to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats.

The cost of connecting villages under Bharatnet is Rs 20,431 crore so far. This initiative is a part of the digital village scheme which aims to convert 15 percent of Indian villages into a digital village.