Centre to bring in pvt cos for NOFN project

The government has decided to bring in the private sector to speed up the Rs 20,100-crore national broadband project to connect the far-flung areas of the country. The department of telecom (DoT) will shortly move a Cabinet note to mandate Bharat Broadband Networks (BBNL) to appoint an independent project management consultant that will invite bids from private players including telecom operators to handle cable laying, trenching and ducting operations across 1.5 lakh village blocks in the second and third stages of the national optic fibre network (NOFN) roll-out. BBNL is the bandwidth supplier and executing agency of the NOFN project.