Sabarkantha Model of Rural Broadband provides a service framework for providing high speed internet to interior and tribal areas where there is no service provider. It started by creating India's first 100% WiFi tribal block at Khedbrahma. Further improvements to the model were made by introducing revenue share mechanism. Gram Panchayats invest in last mile infrastructure for WiFi and act as service provider. Sabarkantha District Panchayat acts as the aggregator of the network and invests in middle mile/backhaul to extend the network. This model represents a change from fiber and hardware focus to services to citizens as the key outcome. Its a fully operational model across 65 village panchayats as on Jan 2016. The economic model provides for a sustainable way to run the network. The model will be seamlessly integrated and complimented to the NOFN/Bharatnet implementation as Sabarkantha is now included in Phase - I of NOFN.

1. 1
By
Nagarajan M, IAS
District Development Officer
Sabarkantha District
Gujarat
Email: naga@na.ga
Sabarkantha Model of Rural Broadband
for Digital India

2. Towards Creating a Digital Sabarkantha
2
Inaugurated by Hon.
CM of Gujarat
Smt. Anandiben Patel
on 12 Sept 2014

3. Key achievements of the Model
3
• Sabarkantha District Panchayat is the only
non-telecom player to have tower sharing
agreement with BSNL.
• It’s a multi-stakeholder Public-Public-Private-
Partnership model
• Revenue sharing as key principle to ensure
sustainability of the project
• Modular and scalable model that can be
applied to the NOFN/BharatNet Project

4. Broadband and Development
4

5. 5

6. India Vs. World
6

7. What is needed for Rural Broadband
7
• ISP
• Bandwidth
• Billing, CRM Solution
• AAA authentication
• Network Backhaul
• Last Mile

8. Many Ways to Connect
8
Kerala Model
All Modes can work in combination

9. What is needed for Rural Broadband
9
Khedbrahma Experiment Sabarkantha Model of
Rural Broadband
ISP Local Private ISP Railtel – Central Govt. PSU
Bandwidth On Demand On Demand
Billing, CRM ISP consortium ISP Provided
AAA Authentication ISP consortium ISP Provided
Network Backhaul Wireless – 5.8 Ghz Wireless/Cable/Fiber/
Leased Line/ Dark Fiber
Last-Mile WiFi - 2.4 Ghz WiFi/ FTTH

10. Digital Gangetic Plains (DGP): 802.11based Low Cost Networking for
Rural Areas – Prof. Bhaskaran Raman
10

11. Network Topology
• Recommended by IIT Kanpur (2004) as the
best model for Rural Internet Connectivity.
• Uses delicenced spectrum in 5.8 Ghz and 2.4
Ghz.
• Hub and Spokes model
• Mesh Network – Link Failure resistance
• Multi-mode Middle mile (backhaul)
11

12. P2P Link Towers – Range 10 – 15 KM
12

13. Link Towers to GP Towers
13

14. 14
Village :- Derol
Location of Tower :-
Derol PHC

15. 15
Village :- Khedbrahma
Location of Tower :-
K’bma Civil Hospital

16. 16
Village :- Chikhla
Location of Tower Chikhla
Gram Panchayat

17. Stakeholder consultations – July 2014
17

18. Agreement Signing with SHG Leader
18

19. Agreement Signing with SHG Leader
19

20. Agreement Signing with Sarpanch
20

21. Agreement Signing with Sarpanch
21

22. The Digital Brigade
22

23. Dated: 07-05-2014 Sandesh News
Sabarkantha Avruti 23
General Elections-2014 : Webcasting of Polling at
93/106 booths

24. 24

25. Khedbrahma Model
• 32 Gram Panchayats
• Village Level towers
and access points
installed by GP or SHG.
• Plug and Play model
• 10% Revenue share of
all sales generated in
their area of operation.
•District Panchayat (DP)
erects P2P Towers and
provides connectivity to
GPs.
•Appoints a vendors who
provides scalable internet
bandwidth as per demand
in PPP mode.
•Vendors pays 20% revenue
share to DP – takes care all
other legal and reporting
formalities.
25

26. Key Benefits
• Provides regular income to GP
• Increased respect of Local self Govt. among
citizens
• Demand of the times
• Risk is divided and handled as per the capacity
of stakeholders
• Highly scalable - anywhere across Gujarat
• RAILTEL as strategic partner
26

27. Some Pointers
• Average no. Of
connection will be
approx. 8% - 10% of
population
• Its not about WiFi
but providing
internet to rural
areas with WiFi
hotspots where
needed.
• Cyber Kitley –
Village Cyber cafe
• Gyan Setu – Online
classes
• Rural Ecomm – tie
up with
Flipkart/Snapdeal
• Learning Portal – K-
12, Financial
literacy, Livelihood
27

28. Project Output
28

29. Client Relationship Management (CRM)
29

30. Registration Details Partner Wise
30
Free UserPaid User

31. MOU with Railtel in the presence of Hon.
CM of Gujarat
31

32. Digital Setu Business Model
32
PPP model on revenue sharing &
Multi-stakeholder inclusive approach
Network
Partner
Revenue
Share
Model

33. 33
Revenue Share Breakup
District
Panchayat,
Sabarkantha
Gram
Panchayat
PACS VCE
PACS-CARE 5% 10% 25% NIL
GP-VCE 5% 25% NIL 10%
PACS-FULL NIL NIL 40% NIL
DP-GP-VCE 5% 25% NIL 10%
The AGR will be shared as follows:

34. 34

39. 39
Network Monitoring

40. CRM System
40
http://gj.railwire.co.in

41. Customer Acquisition
Form (CAF)
41

42. Billing System
42

43. Subscriber Application form
43

44. Select Plan
44

45. Application Status
45

46. Top-UP Subscriber Account
46

47. 47
Customer Login
Page

48. Synergy with NOFN/BhartNet
• NOFN Terminates 100 MBPS fiber at Panchayat
• Last mile to homes, schools and institutions
will depend on wireless
• Bandwidth is still not committed under NOFN
• Public Internet Service is not yet committed
under NOFN
• Will take some years to reach remote areas –
Digital Setu reaches “TODAY”.
48

49. Project Milestones
49
May - 2014 Webcasting of 96 Polling
booths during General
Elections – 2014
Sept – 2014 India’s First 100% WiFi Tribal
Block declared
Dec – 2014 Free Internet Daily for 30 mins
upto 30 MB
Feb - 2015 Tower Sharing contract with
BSNL
Aug – 2015 MoU with Railtel Corporation
of India Ltd

50. Recent News on Broadband
50

51. More news...
51
A few years
is too long in
Digital era

52. More news...
52
Rural areas
are ignored

53. WLAN vs Bandwidth Approach
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Framework to access services
Value Added content can be provided over LAN
eLearning, eAgri, eHealth, Life skills
District Officials can run local need based services
Fosters innovation and emergence of Local and
Rural Startups
 Best utilization of mid-mile and last-mile
bandwidth capacity

54. What is Sabarkantha Model of Rural
Broadband
54
Multi-Stakeholder
Public-Public-Private Partnership Mode
Revenue Sharing basis
Localized
Modularized
Scalable

55. Stakeholders
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DRDA,
Sabarkantha

56. Stakeholders
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Only Non Telecom Entity to have Tower Sharing
Contract with BSNL

57. Administrative Innovations
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• Rate Contract of Line Items for all hardware
• AMC for a block of 50 Gram Panchayats to
ensure service levels
• Mid-mile investment by District Panchayat
and Last-mile investments by
GPs/PACS/SHGs.
• Use of Planning funds – BRGF by MoPR, GoI
• Own funds of District Panchayat allocated by
General body.

58. Myths in Rural Broadband
58
Bandwidth is costly
End to End responsibility has to be one
single agency to ensure SLAs.
Return on Investment (RoI) is low.
Rural Broadband is a technical challenge
Villagers don’t use/need Internet
• Online Job application conundrum

59. Ironies in Rural Broadband in India
59
Competition instead of
Collaboration
Focusing of weakness of others than
the strengths
Bandwidth/hardware as framework of planning
than service level
Service Framework and Governance
is left out
Who is the owner of the Project?

60. Middle-Mile Options
60
BSNL Tower Rental for Radio
Devices
Leased Line connectivity upto
exchange level
Dark Fiber lease
Other Telecom Players Leasing of Dark Fiber
Local Cable Operators (LCOs) Use spare fiber to reach
homes on revenue share
(Railwire Model)
Utility Provider building
backbone fiber
Kerala Model

61. Connectivity as a framework – Services as the Focus
61
Service Model is situation centric
Needs to be evolved – Bottom-up approach
Grounded in local culture

62. Thank You
62
Nagarajan M, IAS
District Development Officer
Sabarkantha District Panchayat
E-mail : ddo-sab@gujarat.gov.in