A committee on the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project has estimated over three fold increase in project cost from Rs 200 billion to Rs 727.78 billion. However, the panel is of the view that this cost can be brought down significantly by using Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited?s (BSNL) duct infrastructure.
Further, the panel has suggested several changes to the existing framework and scope of the NOFN. The committee has suggested enhancing the scope of service coverage beyond 250,000 gram panchayats, and extending it to urban areas and business users as well. Further, it has proposed using a mix of various technologies like satellite, spectrum for connectivity rather than only optical fibre.
It has also suggested reduction in broadband speed to be delivered through this network to 20 mbps at household level from earlier planned speed of 100 mbps across all gram panchayats in the country. It has proposed to name the modified version of NOFN as BharatNet, which can be commissioned by December 2017, a year later than NOFN?s scheduled deadline of December 2016.
