Govt signs MoU with states and UTs on Right of Way for NOFN

The government today signed an Memorandum of Understanding with multiple states and union teritorries in order to accelerate the ambitious national optic fiber network project in the country.

The MoU is signed between 13 states, 3 UTs, Universal obligation fund (USOF) and DoT to provide right of way (RoW) to the NOFN project so that the ground work of digging,laying cables, and reaching to various project destinations does not face any bureaucratic hurdles.

Many a government and private projects that involve digging and laying cables spanning multiple states usually face hurdles from various urban and rural development agencies in connection to jurisdiction and teritorrial restrictions.

The objective of this MoU is to avoid these hurdles so that the NOFN project sees a smooth passage.

The 13 states are Tripura, Karnataka, Chhatisgarh, Kerala, UP, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, MP and Rajasthan; and the 3 UTs are Puducherry, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. 

The MoU was signed in the presence of Kapil Sibal, minister of communication and information technology, telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar, IT secretary J Satyanarayan, Ashok Gehlot, Chief minister of Rajasthan and Vijay Bahuguna, chief minister of Uttarakhand.

The Rs 20,000 crore NOFN project is planned to be completed by December 2013 and state run firms like BSNL, Railtel and PGCIL are warded to execute this project. These three PSUs would execute the project on behalf of Bharat Broadband, a special purpose vehicle designed for the large scale project. The NOFN project would roll out five lakh route kilometer of fibre optic network around the country reaching to districts, blocks and panchayats.

From a government point of view, the NOFN project is similar to Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), the only difference is the former would be digital super highway.