Keeping its promise in the National Telecom Policy-2012 of   providing affordable and quality telecommunication services in rural and remote areas and giving a fillip to country’s GDP though telecommunications, the government has finally given its nod to the project of connecting all the 2, 50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country through Optical Cable (OFC) under National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN).

NTP envisages providing high speed and high quality broadband access to all village panchayats through a combination of technologies by the year 2014 and progressively to all villages and habitations by 2020.

To kick-start the project a tripartite MoU among Central Government, State Government and Bharat Broadband Network Limited which will execute the project was signed. 

“The Central Government, through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), is funding the project while the contribution of State Government would be by providing free Right of Way (RoW) for laying OFC”, a statement by the government said. 

It said that 16 States/UTs had  already signed MoUs on 26.10.2012 They are- Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and 3 Union Territories viz. Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry. 

“This arrangement covers 1,40,727 GPs to be provided with Optical Fibre Network in these States and UTs” it said. 

New ten states like Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also signed the MoU on Thursday in the presence of telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

The BBNL will soon commence the work in above States/UTs taking OFC to Gram Panchayats and in remaining States work will be taken by BBNL as and when States are ready to sign MoU.

The government said that with the availability of NOFN at 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps will be available at each of GP and will lead to proliferation of broadband services. Benefits to States include the following:

Empowering rural masses by giving them access to information, public services including those of education, health and financial inclusion.

Today, India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. The unprecedented increase in teledensity and sharp decline in tariffs in the Indian telecom sector have contributed significantly to the country’s economic growth. Besides contributing to about 3% to India’s GDP, Telecommunications, along with Information Technology, has greatly accelerated the growth of the economic and social sectors.

The rural India holds a great prospect for fuelling economic growth on the China where rural teledensity has got great focus resulting tremendous economic growth. 

Certain government policies meant for empowering people in rural India such as MNREGA, PDS, Land Records, Birth/Death Certificates, Digital Literacy, e-Governance, education, health, employment, agriculture and commerce may be launched using this network

As access service providers like Mobile operators, Internet Service Providers, Cable TV operators, content providers etc. launch their access network and services using NOFN, it will result in creation of local employment, revenue generation and growth of GDP leading to overall prosperity of the State.

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