<span style="color: #222222;">The Tamil Nadu Government has taken steps to roll out the second phase of the ambitious BharatNet project in the state. The administration signed an agreement with a private player, in presence of the state IT Minister Mano Thangaraj, to make the infrastructure for the services available in rural areas. He said, the second phase of the BharatNet project will help connect 12,525 Gram Panchayats in the state with high-speed bandwidth using Optical Fibre Cable. The Centre has approved the project, which is estimated to cost 1815.31 crore rupees.<br />''<br />''The BharatNet infrastructure will help in providing the triple play services like Telephone, Television and Internet Connections, apart from e-Education and telemedicine at affordable cost. It will also allow government offices, public institutions, schools, colleges and industries to use high-speed bandwidth to deliver citizen centric services at village level. </span>