Budget 2015: Andhra Pradesh becomes first state to execute NOFN on its own

NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh has become the first state to opt for executing the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) on its own and the telecom department will reimburse the cost for the same, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

“Fibre network of 7.5 lakh kilometres in 2.5 lakh villages is being further speeded up by allowing willing states to undertake its execution on reimbursement of cost determined by the Department of Telecommunications. Andhra Pradesh is the first state to have opted for this manner of implementation,” Jaitley said while presenting the Budget for 2015-16 in Parliament.

Andhra Pradesh had proposed to deliver broadband connection with 10-15 mbps download speed to each 12 million households for Rs 150/month that are planned to be covered under state designed project.

The state had proposed to execute the project at a cost of Rs 4,913 crore in five years while Centre has earmarked Rs 1,940 crore for the NOFN project in the state.

For executing this project, the state will create its own corporation to be named Andhra Pradesh Fibre Corporation which would 100 per cent owned by state. This corporation will manage the network and own the assets.

The state will create another entity in name of ‘Digital Andhra Corporation’ using Public-Private-Partnership model that will be responsible for creation of ecosystem for broadband adoption.