Govt eyes local vendors for OFC project

BANGALORE, INDIA: In what could be a win-win situation for home-grown OFC (optical fiber cable) providers and GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) manufacturers, the government plans 100 per cent indigenous sourcing for its ambitious Rs 20,000 crore national project. The department of telecommunications (DoT) has undertaken a study to find out companies' capabilities related to production feasibility, capacity building and supply chain management.

Speaking to CIOL, Bharat Broadband CEO and USO Fund administrator N Ravi Shankar said that DoT, on October 5, issued guideline which lays down norms for preferential market access for different components. "We shall procure 100 per cent OFC from indigenous sources while for GPON, a minimum of 75 per cent should be from local manufacturers, and can go up to 100 per cent," Shankar informed.

The department is also taking services from government-owned agency C-DoT for designing network monitoring equipment. "BBNL and DoT are trying to access manufacturing capabilities within the country and how equipment can be provided within desired timeframe," he said. After careful assessment of their capabilities including supply chain, Shankar said, they would be then able to take decision on procurement.

The Indian-origin companies, which could be in fray include: VTL, Teracom, HFCL, Tejas Networks, Sterlite Technologies, United Telecoms Limited (UTL) and Aksh as well as government-owned Bharat Electronics and ITL Limited.