BharatNet, the optical fibre network, still has a long way to go, but digital outreach is happening in its wake. Govt. agencies have come up, pilots initiated and content added

CSC e-Governance Service India is for providing digital services to rural India by Common Service Centres. CSCs are now found in almost all 250 Gram Panchayats (GPs). Digital literacy initiative expects to train 60m rural people in digital skills for Rs 1,800cr.

Bharatnet: Direct fibre connectivity is envisioned for public community units like post offices, schools, health units, police stations, railway stations, libraries. Completion of underground cable is expected by mid-2017. Phase 2 of overhead cable laying has probably already started with AP.

Comparison with China and Malaysia
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India is more population dense than either China or Malaysia. Its hinterland is disproportionately backward and this affects digital access as well. Cables were an after-thought to the telecom revolution. So the transition to cabled broadband is much harder. Whilst India has 10.7 times less fibre per person than Malaysia, the deficit per sq km is less @ x 2.5. Bharat Net is expected to lay 1.71m km cable and reach sq km density of 0.53 or x1.4 present. This may be enough, as India is investing in radio and satellite to reach very remote areas. (see pg 84 pdf).

Government to launch Digital literacy mission for 60 million rural Indians