NOFN by 2017, public telecos to be revived

In his first press conference, after taking charge, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that the government is scrutinizing spectrum sharing, trading and allocation for the betterment of the subscribers. He optimistically talked about the rollout of high-impact NOFN project that will connect 2,50,000 gram panchayats through the national optic fiber network by 2015, and that the government will target 50,000 gram panchayats this fiscal itself. However, the ambitious project is likely to hit execution issues. Later at the NOFN first review meeting under the new government, 2017 was indicated as the reasonable time frame for this project, given the magnitude of work involved.

Prasad also assured that a monitoring procedure to improve the quality of services would be set up for reviving the struggling state-run telcos Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam. For this, he met the senior management of the two companies and asked them to strictly follow the timelines for the revival. This will be followed by setting up of an NOC (Network Operations Center) in Sanchar Bhawan to monitor both MTNL and BSNL which recorded a net loss of Rs 5,321 crore and Rs 8,198 crore respectively.