e to procure and sell bandwidth.
- Internet connectivity is still not a part of the development plan of Gram Panchayats in India. As each Panchayat is expected to develop an annual development plan, internet for development can be included in it. In this way, the money for enabling connectivity to the Gram Panchayats can be financed by the state government.
- It is necessary for a sustainable partnership model to grow within a community network. This will enable better community participation and involvement for the sustainable model to thrive in rural areas.
 I thank the Gram Marg team members, in particular M. Khaturia, N. P. Rao, J. Singh, T. Ghadge, A. Patil and V. Kavale. Special thanks to the principal investigators of this project, Prof. A. Karandikar and Prof. P. Chaporkar, for their valuable insights. This study is also a part of IEEE-SA's Digital Inclusion Through Trust and Agency (DITA) programme (the affordability and accessibility work streams).
 The Digital India initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015 with the objective of connecting rural areas with high-speed internet connectivity and improving digital literacy. The vision of this programme is centred on three key areas: digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand, and the digital empowerment of citizens.
 Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. (2017). The State of Broadband: Broadband catalyzing sustainable development. https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/opb/pol/S-POL-BROADBAND.18-2017-PDF-E.pdf
 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. (2017). The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators: July-September, 2017. https://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/PIR_July_Sept_28122017.pdf
 Indo-Asian News Service. (2018, 20 February). Acute Urban-Rural Divide in Internet Penetration in India: Report. Business Television in India. www.btvi.in/news/acute-urban-rural-divide-in-internet-penetration-in-india--report/57421
 All villages in India are either Gram Panchayats or only “villages”, depending on the population size of the villages. Villages that are small will fall under the same Gram Panchayat. So a Gram Panchayat may have three to four villages under it.
 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. (2016). Planning for BharatNet Phase 2. Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd. bbnl.nic.in/WriteReadData/LINKS/Rpt_Nw_Plg_tool6cad24a7-eea8-4adc-91ff-468d7119eeb0.pdf
 Nungu, A., & Pehrson, B. (2011). Towards Sustainable Broadband Communication in Rural Areas. In R. Szabó et al. (Eds.), AccessNets 2010: Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 63, 168-175. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/13a6/88fc3d27f7f9b507424203c6acb5659b1fe6.pdf; Belur, S. B., Khaturia, M., & Rao, N. (2017). Community-led Networks for Sustainable Rural Broadband in India: The Case of Gram Marg. In L. Belli (Ed.), Community Networks: The Internet by the People, for the People. Official outcome of the UN IGF Dynamic Coalition on Community Connectivity. https://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/dspace/bitstream/handle/10438/19401/Community%20networks%20-%20the%20Internet%20by%20the%20people%2C%20for%20the%20people.pdf#page=194
 In the BOT model, the private service provider provides the capital required to build, maintain and operate the service for a contract period under a concession from the government and then returns the service to the government after its contract has expired. In the BTO model, the private service provider builds the infrastructure and then transfers it to the public owner. The public owner is given the right to operate and a return on investment. This could also be called a private investment and public facilitation model. In a joint venture model, the investment is shared between the private service provider and public sector.
 This report has been an outcome of a research project partly funded by Tata Trusts.
 Kumar, A., Karandikar, A., Naik, G., Khaturia, M., Saha, S., Arora, M., & Singh, J. (2016). Toward enabling broadband for a billio