India Broadband Highway

 As Bharatnet rolls in phase II Voice&data talks to 5 industry leaders to take stock of the project

- Nandita Singh

Voice&Data: What is your view on India’s Broadband project BharatNet phase I execution?

TVR: Indian Government had sanctioned Project National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) and a budget of ₹20,000 crore to achieve the above five years ago in 2011 itself. However, Project NOFN was dogged by bad luck as well as ineffective design and poor implementation - mired in bureaucratic execution processes by the three CPSUs who were entrusted with the implementation for Bharat Net-Phase I viz. BSNL, PGCIL & Railtel right from the start and, after over four years of little progress against repeatedly relaxed deadlines, instead of burying the basic fibre in the ground, the Project itself was ironically given a quiet burial around mid-2015. This had been preceded by an excellent set of TRAI Recommendations in April 2015 for ‘Delivering Broadband Quickly’ through much revamping and a more holistic approach.

Realizing the shortcomings in the implementation of BharatNet Phase-I, and armed with a mandate to recommend changes during BharatNet-Phase II , TRAI launched a comprehensive Consultation Process for Implementation of BharatNet, the new holistic name for the erstwhile NOFN project.