The Telecom Commission has approved establishing a national optical fibre network (NOFN) to offer broadband services in rural areas.
The network, to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 200 billion, is expected to connect all the gram panchayats. The project will be funded by the Universal Services Obligation (USO) Fund.
According to Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT, ?The objective of the scheme is to initially extend the existing optical fibre network from the district or block headquarters level to the gram panchayat level by utilising the USO Fund. The cost of the initial phase of the NOFN scheme is likely to be around Rs 200 billion and a similar investment is likely to be made by the private sector.?
The proposal will now be placed before the Union Cabinet for final approval.
Prior to this, a high-level committee to coordinate all activities related to the creation and implementation of NOFN was constituted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under the co-chairmanship of Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister on public information, infrastructure and innovation and Nandan Nilekani, chairman, UIDAI.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV), formed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will execute the project, after it is approved by the Cabinet. The SPV will be owned by the government and the USO Fund.
