selvan33
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2012
- Messages
- 1,267
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
Army blames *** for delays in Defence cable network
The Directorate-General of Signals at the Army headquarters has raised concerns over the delay in laying the Defence optical fibre cable network.The cable network was part of an agreement signed between the Department of Telecom and the Ministry of Defence signed in 2009. Under this deal, the *** had promised to build an exclusive cable network for the Defence forces in return for vacating spectrum.
Since then the Defence has released 40 MHz of spectrum for mobile operators but the cable network is no where near being rolled out. The tender for laying the network has been cancelled thrice. In a communications to the ***, Lt Gen S P Kochhar, Signal Officer-In-Chief & Senior Colonel Commandant said, “The project was approved by the cabinet Committee on Infrastructure on December 3, 2009, with a mandate to roll out the Defence network in 36 months. However 40 months down the line, there is no progress.”
“Post release of 40 MHz of spectrum by the Ministry of Defence, critical communication has been affected,” the letter stated.
Procedural delays and a flawed tendering process have pushed back the Rs 7,000-crore optical fibre project for the Defence forces.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was entrusted to roll out this cable system aimed at connecting key installations of the armed forces. But the company has not been able to close the tender for procuring the optical cable. BSNL had floated the tender initially in January 2010 but this was cancelled. A fresh tender was brought out in November 2012, which has also been cancelled.
14 FIRMS IN RACE
As many as 14 top companies, including L&T, Sterlite and Punj Lloyd, had expressed interest in this turnkey project, which involves laying optical cable across 57,000 route km. The network will connect 129 Army, 162 Air Force and 33 Navy installations. The Government has already earmarked $3 billion for the project.
While this agreement was important in 2009 when *** did not have spectrum to allocate, now there is no urgency post the 2G licence cancellation. The *** has excess spectrum now with not many takers in the last auction. The question now is whether it needs the spectrum owned by the Defence anymore.
According to the letter from Kochhar, the Telecom Ministry is delaying the project on grounds that some part of it should be reserved for state owned Indian Telephone Industries when in 2010 it was decided that quota will not apply to defence network.
Army blames *** for delays in Defence cable network | idrw.org
The Directorate-General of Signals at the Army headquarters has raised concerns over the delay in laying the Defence optical fibre cable network.The cable network was part of an agreement signed between the Department of Telecom and the Ministry of Defence signed in 2009. Under this deal, the *** had promised to build an exclusive cable network for the Defence forces in return for vacating spectrum.
Since then the Defence has released 40 MHz of spectrum for mobile operators but the cable network is no where near being rolled out. The tender for laying the network has been cancelled thrice. In a communications to the ***, Lt Gen S P Kochhar, Signal Officer-In-Chief & Senior Colonel Commandant said, “The project was approved by the cabinet Committee on Infrastructure on December 3, 2009, with a mandate to roll out the Defence network in 36 months. However 40 months down the line, there is no progress.”
“Post release of 40 MHz of spectrum by the Ministry of Defence, critical communication has been affected,” the letter stated.
Procedural delays and a flawed tendering process have pushed back the Rs 7,000-crore optical fibre project for the Defence forces.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was entrusted to roll out this cable system aimed at connecting key installations of the armed forces. But the company has not been able to close the tender for procuring the optical cable. BSNL had floated the tender initially in January 2010 but this was cancelled. A fresh tender was brought out in November 2012, which has also been cancelled.
14 FIRMS IN RACE
As many as 14 top companies, including L&T, Sterlite and Punj Lloyd, had expressed interest in this turnkey project, which involves laying optical cable across 57,000 route km. The network will connect 129 Army, 162 Air Force and 33 Navy installations. The Government has already earmarked $3 billion for the project.
While this agreement was important in 2009 when *** did not have spectrum to allocate, now there is no urgency post the 2G licence cancellation. The *** has excess spectrum now with not many takers in the last auction. The question now is whether it needs the spectrum owned by the Defence anymore.
According to the letter from Kochhar, the Telecom Ministry is delaying the project on grounds that some part of it should be reserved for state owned Indian Telephone Industries when in 2010 it was decided that quota will not apply to defence network.
Army blames *** for delays in Defence cable network | idrw.org
