Govt okays building of Broadband network for panchayats

Milind Deora, minister of state for communications and IT has said that the government of India has approved the creation of National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), in order to provide broadband connectivity to panchayats.

''The plan is to extend the existing optical fibre network initially upto panchayats by utilizing the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) and creating an institutional mechanism for management and operation of the NOFN for ensuring non discriminatory access to all service providers, said the minister.

The government in this regard has assigned National Informatics Centre ( NIC) a project by DOT/USOF for carrying out the Geo Information System (GIS) mapping of the existing Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) network of the various telecom operators such BSNL, Rail Tel, Power Grid, etc.

The minister has said that the mapping of the existing OFC will enable to calculate the required length of the cable for connecting all the 2.5 lakh panchayats with OFC. The cost of initial phase of the NOFN scheme is likely to be in the region of Rs. 20,000 crores.