The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for an extension to the deadline for the completion of the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project by nine months. DoT has requested to extend the deadline of NOFN from March 2016 to December 2016. The telecom department has cited delay in the procurement of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) systems that are used for carrying voice, data and video signals over an optic fibre cable (OFC) network at high speeds as the major reason for seeking a timeline extension for completion of the project.

Apart from GPON systems, DoT has also sought additional time from PMO due to the short supply of telecom ducts which are used for laying down OFC network. For the NOFN project, it has laid down a framework to enhance the manufacturing capacity of fibre ducts at state-run telecom factories from 2,000 km a month to 6,000 km a month.

Further, DoT has called for the involvement of more agencies with matching material, machines and other related resources to expedite the national rollout of NOFN. In order to speed up the process, it has advised the implementing agencies to use public buildings such as schools and post offices wherever the gram panchayats are not available to carry out the work.