Trivandrum: Union Minister for Communications & Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad will formally inaugurate the commissioning of the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) in Idukki District under the Digital India Programme on January 12, 2015 through Video Conference connecting State Head Quarters, District Head Quarters, Blocks & Grama Panchayats.
Chief Minister, Shri Oommen Chandy; IT & Industries Minister, Shri P K Kunhalikutty; and Panchayats & Social Justice Minister, Dr. M K Muneer are expected to attend the function to be held at the Park Centre in the Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram. Idukki District Collector, Block Presidents, Panchayat Presidents, etc will also be participating in the function through video conferencing.
The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is aimed to provide high speed broadband connectivity to over two and half lakh (2,50,000) Grama Panchayats of India. The project provides internet access using existing optical fibre from the three Public Sector Undertakings (BSNL, Railtel & PowerGrid) and extending it to the Grama Panchayats.
Idukki will be the first District in India for piloting the NOFN project at District Level. Eight Block Offices and 52 Grama Panchayats in the District have been connected with NOFN which uses Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Technology that brings fibre cabling and signals to the customer premises using a point-to-multipoint scheme that enables a single optical fibre to serve multiple premises.
The project was intended to enable the Government of India to provide e-services and e-applications nationally up to the Grama Panchayat level. Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) was created as a Special Purpose Vehicle incorporated to execute the Project, which will be implemented by three prominent telecom Public Sector Undertakings. The project will be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and was estimated to be completed in two years.
Some of the advantages of implementing NOFN are:
- Provide Broadband connectivity up to 100Mbps to each Grama Panchayats & Blocks through optical fibre.
- Provide non-discriminatory access to all categories of service providers to provide services to the rural areas.
- e-health, e-education, e-governance, e-commerce applications & Video conferencing can be facilitated using the NOFN.
- Technology used is easily scalable & maintainable which are meeting the ground realities at rural level.
Kerala IT News