The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is considering inviting stakeholders’ views on issues pertaining to roll out of broadband network in the country. In this regard, TRAI intends to issue a consultation paper by end September 2014. This comes as the regulator reckons that the progress in the National Optical Fibre Network project has been disappointing.

TRAI added that only 15,000 km of cable has been deployed out of 180,000 km cable that has been ordered. Further, of the 600,000 km for ducting, actual achievement has been only 2,000 km, which is about 0.3 percent.

TRAI is also considering issuing a consultation paper to discuss the possible the regulatory framework for the over-the-top applications such as Viber, WhatsApp, Skype.