The Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), which is providing financial assistance to the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project, has informed the Ministry of Communications and IT that the broadband coverage target set for 2014-15 will be halved from 100,000 village panchayats to 50,000.
In the beginning of 2014, the government had revised the timelines for NOFN implementation. The Phase I of the project, which involved connecting 100,000 gram panchayats, was estimated to be completed by March 2015, while the next 100,000 gram panchayats were to be connected by end-March 2016 and the remaining 50,000 gram panchayats by December 2016.
However, given the current status of fibre roll-out, the timeline for Phase I is unlikely to be met. As per USOF, majority of cable laying, trenching and ducting work is still incomplete. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), RailTel and PowerGrid Corporation, which have been entrusted with the task to execute the NOFN project, have cited several challenges that they face in their respective zones while laying cables, trenching and concluding ducting work.
As per the revised timeline, USOF now expects the three-phase NOFN project to conclude earliest by March 2017. This translates into a five-year delay since the project implementation commenced.
The NOFN project aims to provide broadband connectivity to 250,000 gram panchayats in the country by laying an extensive fibre network over which data services will ride. This will be done by utilising existing fibres of public sector units ? BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid, and laying incremental fibre wherever necessary.
