Various decisions were taken to effectively implement Bharat Net-National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) Project with other aspects were addressed during the two-day conference of the north zone of the Department of Telecom which concluded in Dehradun on Friday.
According to organisers of the conference, the decisions taken in the conference include measures like directing all the controllers to ensure expeditious implementation of Bharat Net-NOFN in their States as designated monitoring authority. Monthly progress meetings on NOFN may be held with BBNl and BSNl to ensure that the project is implemented expeditiously. The Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) installation and Acceptance Testing (AT) of the GPON equipment should be monitored.
The controllers also need to regularly go for inspections to the field to check implementation of Universal Service Obligation schemes including NOFN in rural areas. Pension Adalat should also be held in different districts to solve problems pertaining to the pensioners of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNl).
It was further decided that regular meetings should be held to establish and enhance coordination between the controller’s office and the Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring Cells (TERM) in each State. The participating officials were also appraised that the total Non-tax revenue (lF & SUC) collected by North Zone in 2015-16 was about Rs 6500 crore. Analysis of the license Fee Collection and Spectrum User Charges should be done to identify further prospects of revenue enhancement, it was decided in the meeting.
It is pertinent to mention here that the north zone includes the telecom circles of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (East and West) along with Uttarakhand. The conference in Dehradun was chaired by the north zone principal controller Sumita Purkayastha and attended by controllers of eight telecom circles. The conference was organised by the office controller, communication accounts of Uttarakhand at present held by Ashish Joshi.
Officials further informed that the various issues discussed during the conference included the implementation of Bharatnet-NOFN project-connecting all the Gram Panchayats through optical fibre and broadband with NOFN being a key component of the mission Digital India and controllers designated the monitoring authority for implementation of the project. The license fee collection and verification of various telecom operators and the collection and assessment of Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) were also deliberated upon in the conference.
The monitoring of Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) by Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells and the checking of emissions from base station antennae to ascertain they are within the limits for public exposure as prescribed by International Commission on Non-ionizing radiation Protection (ICNRP) were also discussed in the meeting.