The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has stated that the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project has made slow progress in terms of roll out of the optical fibre cables (OFC) in the country. Bharat Broadband Networks Limited (BBNL), the agency implementing the NOFN project, has laid 2,200 route km out of the targeted 500,000 route km as the availability of ducts have emerged as a major deterrent to the project.

DoT believes that BBNL has been unable to cover nationwide cable rollouts majorly due to the delays faced by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in finalising contracts for cable laying, trenching and ducting. DoT has awarded the task of handling majority of the OFC deployment for the project to BSNL, with Power Grid Corporation and RailTel Corportaion of India to handle the remaining portion.

Recently, DoT had directed BSNL, PowerGrid and RailTel to expedite trenching, ducting and cable laying work after the government advanced the project rollout deadline by nine months to March 2016.

Moreover, DoT has shown concern over the non-cooperation of some states with the implementation of NOFN project. Apart from this, the project implementation has also slowed down by delayed right of way (RoW) clearances issued by the state agencies.