19.1.13

A Home Made NOFN


Leading global telecom equipment vendors have been barred by the government from supplying gear for the communications ministry’s Rs.21,000-crore broadband venture involving the rollout of a national optic fibre network (NOFN) that will take high-speed internet to the hinterlands, top executives aware of the development said. Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and ZTE are missing from the telecom department (DoT) certified list of vendors eligible to supply “Gigabit Passive Optical Network, or GPON, which is the chosen fibre technology for this project.
DoT has said that 100% domestic sourcing is mandatory for the project by 2014-15, and its list of certified vendors includes — Himachal Futuristic Communications (HFCL), ITI, Tejas Networks, C-DoT, VMC Systems, Prithvi Infosystems, Sai Systems, United Telecoms and SM Creative.
The project is overseen by a new entity called Bharat Broadband Network (BBNL) and is being executed by BSNL and MTNL.
C-DoT already has GPON technology transfer pacts with six of the certified vendors — ITI, Tejas Networks, VMC, Sai Systems, United Telecoms and SM Creative.

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