CSC’s move to replace indigenously-developed equipment leaves rural connectivity in muddle

NEW DELHI: The low-quality equipment instead of the originally-approved and developed by state-owned technology innovation arm, and incremental fibre deployment under the CSC scheme, is impacting the BharataNet’s last-mile connectivity, a broader vision of Digital India program.

“Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology has been approved by the government’s technical committee after the general requirement (GR) test conducted by the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) but CSC has been deploying China-made equipment to meet stringent timelines and save cost,” a source told ETTelecom.

The Common Service Centres (CSC) scheme or Digital Seva Kendra is a mission-mode initiative under the Digital India umbrella program