Jammu Kashmir Lags In School Broadband Rollout With Only 46 FTTH BharatNet Connections | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: The Government of India has said that Jammu and Kashmir has just 46 working fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband connections in Government-run schools under the BharatNet network, placing the Union Territory near the bottom of the national table for digital connectivity in the education sector.

Responding to Unstarred Question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said all Government secondary schools located in Gram Panchayats and villages are eligible for FTTH connections under the amended BharatNet programme. The initiative aims to deliver 1.5 crore fibre connections across the country over the next five years, with priority to schools and other public institutions and funding support from the Digital Bharat Nidhi.

But the latest utilisation figures show limited progress in Jammu and Kashmir. Only 46 schools have active FTTH connections and their cumulative data usage for October 2025 stood at 4,525 GB. By contrast, Haryana has 9,469 FTTH-enabled schools, Punjab 12,961, Bihar 2,414, Gujarat 4,028 and Uttar Pradesh 6,572.

The Minister said FTTH connections are provided based on demand and the availability of BharatNet infrastructure, and that the overall framework depends on States and Union Territories signing agreements with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for implementation. While BSNL has entered into MoUs with 17 States, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir has not featured in the list tabled in the House.

The government said 67,955 Government schools across India currently have working FTTH connections using BharatNet. Their combined monthly data usage for October 2025 stands at 34.02 lakh GB, indicating rising dependence on digital content in classrooms.

Under the Digital Bharat Nidhi, Rs 516 crore has been released to BSNL as subsidy for providing BharatNet-based FTTH connectivity across the country. Officials said the roll-out pace in Jammu and Kashmir remains tied to local infrastructure constraints, terrain challenges, and the requirement of coordinated demand from schools and implementing agencies.

While the amended BharatNet programme prioritises Government schools nationwide, the figures suggest Jammu and Kashmir will require a sharper administrative push if it intends to match the levels of digital access being recorded in other States.