Timeline for bringing broadband to gram panchayats revised
Posted on: 25/Feb/2016 11:21:28 AM
Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the timeline for rolling out optical fibre network for high speed broadband services has been revised. By the end of the year, only 1 lakh gram panchayats will be covered.
In a written statement to the Lok Sabha, Mr. Prasad said, The timeline for connecting 1 lakh GPs (gram panchayats) with OFC (optical fibre cable) to provide broadband connectivity under Phase 1 has been revised to December 31, 2016. Considering the vastness of project execution, the very limited resources deployed by the institutions, time required for tendering, mobilisation of physical resources...the time line for completion of NOFN (National Optical Fibre Network) project could not be met
The NDA government had hoped to connect 50000 gram panchayats by March 2015 and another 1 lakh by March this year, following the remaining 1 lakh by the end of the year. Rs. 20100 crore was approved for the project in 2011. The project aimed to bring at least 100 Mbps (mega bit per second) bandwidth in 2.5 lakh gram panchayats. A special purpose vehicle handles the project, under the Telecom Ministry. The Ministry has distributed work to three public sector units which are BSNL, Powergrid and Railtel.
