The Government has set up a high level committee, which includes Sam Pitroda, chairman, National Knowledge Commission and Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UID), to monitor the implementation of the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project.
Under the project, the Government is looking to lay a optic fibre cable network across the country to boost broadband uptake.
A core team, comprising executives from public sector units with optic fibre already in the ground, including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), RailTel and PowerGrid have been constituted. Representatives from C-DOT and the Universal Services Obligation fund are also part of this team which is working out the details of implementing the project including revenue generation and technology issues.
A special purpose vehicle will be set up to execute the project. The Government is working on a National Broadband Plan aimed at rolling at broadband infrastructure to every village with more than 500 people.
The focal point of this plan is to create an optic fibre cable network across the country. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, an additional 2.5 million route kilometres of cable would be required at an estimated cost of Rs 600 billion to meet future bandwidth demands. The project will be partly financed by the Universal Services Obligation fund.
