A consortium led by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) has emerged as L1 (Lowest bidder) for BSNL’s Rs 5,000 Crore contract to develop an aggregator network for BharatNet, Phase 3. 

Stakeholders 
The Consortium comprises RVNL, HFCL Limited, and Aerial Telecom Solutions Pvt Ltd. reads the Tuesday filing made by the Public Sector Undertaking. RVNL is the lead partner, but the financial breakup among the partners remains unknown. 

Scope of Work 
The contract’s scope of work begins from creation and goes up till the upgradation, operation, and maintenance of the aggregator network of BharatNet on the Design Build Operate and Maintain (DBOM) Model. An Aggregator Network or Middle-mile Network refers the a part of the telecommunications network that connects local networks to the Internet’s core. 

It is primarily the 2nd segment of the network, majorly composed of Fibre Optics infrastructure. 

Specifics of the deal 
The deal includes three years of construction further followed by 10 years of maintenance contract at 5.5% per annum of the capex for the first five years which would later progress to 6.5% per annum for the later 5 years. 

Past Records 
HFCL, in the past, deployed advanced broadband network gateways with Control and User Plane Separation architecture for BSNL. The system will further serve the BharatNet project taking broadband to 2.5 Lakh Gram panchayats. 

"As a trusted BSNL partner, we look forward to further collaborations, with HFCL playing a key role in BharatNet Phase-III," said Mahendra Nahata, MD of HFCL. 

Project Bidders 
The major bidders included Telecommunications Consultant of India Limited (TCIL), ITI Limited, HFCL, STL, Polycab, and Pratap Technocrats aiming to assist BSNL in phase 3 of the BharatNet project. Among these few companies like Polycab, STL, and HFCL presented solo bids while G R Infraprojects, Vindhya Telelinks, Pace Digitek Infra Private Limited, RVNL, and Megha Engineering took the route of consortium. 

Coverage Areas 
BharatNet Phase 3 covers Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, North East Region – I and North East Region – II, and others. 

BharatNet 
BharatNet, one of the world’s largest rural telecom projects, is being rolled out by the Government of India across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats to provide universal broadband access. It aims to enable telecom operators to offer services like e-health, e-education, and e-governance in rural and remote areas.