While the Government has announced an ambitious plan of connecting 1 lakh gram panchayats with broadband network by March 2015, the Department of Telecom has found that the pace of laying optical fibre was too slow.
Key challenge According to a DoT survey, the ongoing speed of laying cable is 500 km per month whereas the required speed to achieve the target is 30,000 km a month. One of the challenges is that the suppliers are not able to match the demand for telecom ducts.
The Prime Minister’s Office has asked DoT to look at how to speed up the process because this network is crucial for a number of Government projects.
For example, the Digital India initiative depends a lot on how soon this network is completed.
Called the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), it is supposed to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats when completed. The Rs 20,000 crore project has already been delayed by over 2 years due to issues around procurement of equipment. Subsequently, the DoT divided up the project into three phases. The final phase is expected to be completed by December 2016. But the PMO wants the project to be finished earlier.
While most of the processes related to the project has been completed, the pace of trenching and ducting for laying the cable has been very slow.
The project, which is expected to reach broadband services to rural areas, is being done under a new entity called Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. But ducting and laying the optical cable is being done by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, RailTel and Powergrid as these public sector companies already own some optical fibre cable.
Other factors Apart from procedural delays, lack of a proper business case is also plaguing the project. During a recent meeting, BSNL said that there were no takers for its broadband connections in rural areas. The PSU wanted the Government to drive usage by undertaking e-governance projects in a big way. The DoT has set up a committee to come up with ideas on how to make the project commercially viable.