Import suspension of key network gear may slow home broadband expansion

Kolkata: Consumers could soon see a sharp dip in the quality of fibre-based home broadband services from the likes of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) amongst others as imports of vital network equipment, most of which are made in China, remain suspended for the past 11 months.

Documents reviewed by ET show that the Department of Telecommunications’ technical wing, the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), has temporarily barred imports of essential devices used in fast fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks such as ONT (optical network terminals), OLT (optical line terminals) and ONU (optical network units) since December 2020.