Bengal may sign agreement on fibre optic network in June

The West Bengal government is expected to sign a tripartite agreement with the central government and Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL) this month to rollout a fibre optic network in the state, a government official said Wednesday.

BBNL, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), was set up by the centre to carry out Rs.20,000 crore National Fibre Optic Network (NOFN) project, aiming to provide high-speed broadband in villages across India and connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats.

"West Bengal will soon be a signatory to this government of India project. We expect all our villages up to the gram panchayat to be connected by NOFN in the next four years," said Susanta Majumdar, secretary, department of IT and electronics, West Bengal.

Majumdar was speaking to the newspersons on the sidelines of a seminar on opportunities with information and communication technology and electronics, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here.