National Optic fibre network: Govt to rope in state govts

Prasad to meet all state secretaries today

The government is planning to rope in state governments, as well as private sector for faster execution of the national optic fibre network (NOFN), which will provide broadband connectivity to about 250,000 villages.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written to all the state chief ministers for their participation in the NOFN project.

A meeting of all the state secretaries and IT ministers has been called on Friday in Delhi to find a way forward for the involvement of state governments - financially and operationally, and work out the new model for execution of NOFN. State governments will get powers to rope in private sector at their end, according to people close to the development. The project, expected to be completed by December next year, is an important part of the government's Digital India programme.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken a review meeting. A report by a government set-up panel recommended greater autonomy, flexibility and roping in state governments and private sector for speedy implementation of the project. It also recommended renaming the project as 'Bharat-Net' with an outlay of Rs 72,000 crore and having a chairman from the private sector. The NOFN project was initially estimated to cost Rs 20,000 crore.

Approved by the Cabinet in October 2011, the project was expected to be completed within two years. But the deadline was revised several times due to coordination issues among the agencies and other problems, such as right of way where states have the say.

According to estimates, the project's first phase, to connect 50,000 gram panchayats in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, the Northeast and Maharashtra, is expected to be over by the end this year. Another 100,000 districts/villages are expected to be connected by March 2016 and the rest by end of 2016. Kerala was the fiRs t state to be connected through NOFN fully.

Also, Andhra Pradesh has become the fiRs t state to opt for executing NOFN on its own and the telecom department will reimbuRs e the cost for the same, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier. For executing this project, the state will create its fully owned entity Andhra Pradesh Fibre Corporation which will manage the network and own the assets. Other states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have also expressed their interest in implementing NOFN in their respective states.

Currently, the project is being implemented by Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd (BBNL) in partneRs hip with PowerGrid and RailTel in the ratio of 70:15:15.