The government has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to invite private telecom companies to participate in the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project to expedite the latter’s execution. This comes after the involvement of only state-run companies in the NOFN project was critisied as the major reason for the delay in laying and ducting of optic cable fibre for the project.

In this regard, the DoT will reportedly soon ask the Bharat Broadband Networks Limited (BBNL), the special purpose vehicle for the management of NOFN, to appoint an independent project management consultant that will invite bids from private players to handle cable laying, trenching and ducting operations across gram panchayats during the second and third phases of the NOFN project.

Currently, the NOFN project is being implemented by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), RailTel Corporation of India and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited. After new private players are involved in the project, the role of these state-run companies might get reduced to handling cable laying, trenching and ducting operations for the first phase of the project only.

Earlier, the telecom commission had also recommended the inclusion of private sector companies through the international competitive bidding route in the project.