Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and RailTel have fast-tracked the work on the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project. The three organisations are in the process of floating and evaluating multiple tenders for the Rs 210 billion NOFN project.
The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) which is funding the project has entrusted the task of digging trenches and laying cable to BSNL, PGCIL and PowerGrid in a 70:15:15 ratio. Currently, all the three companies are in final stages of evaluating bids for ducting process. Cable laying and trenching work is going to cost these companies Rs 100 billion.
Further, work on the project is expected to pick-up with Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) set to finalise contracts for buying optical fibre cables and gigabit passive optical network devices for delivering high speed broadband connectivity to the users. BBNL is a special purpose vehicle responsible for implementing the NOFN project.
