Rural ministry offers to set up closed user groups for broadband project

The rural development ministry has offered to take the lead role in setting up closed user groups over the proposed national fibre optic broadband network at the village level to ensure better implementation of the government's flagship welfare schemes.

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to telecom minister Kapil Sibal suggesting immediate operationalisation of this proposal, which aims to cover 10,000 panchayats by the year end and 250,000 by 2015.

"The ministry of rural development could consider being the anchor customer for this closed user group network, funding a significant proportion of the operational costs. The one-time cost of Rs 3,000 crore could be funded from the USO fund.

The plan to link rural communities through a national broadband network, cleared by the Cabinet in October 2011, aims to improve governance and ensure better implementation of government schemes aimed at creating rural infrastructure, employment and livelihoods through people's participation.

The project is being executed by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd, a special purpose vehicle set up for the task. The SPV has prepared a proposal for a government closed user group with preliminary costing.

It has two components — a one-time cost of Rs 3,000 crore and operational cost of Rs 1,500 crore per year to support three links in a panchayat and a hotspot around a panchayat.

The decision to be actively involved in building the closed user groups comes on the heels of Ramesh's meetings with executives from Bharat Broadband to understand how the rural development ministry could use the broadband network.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/broadband-and-iptv-news/item/3007-rural-ministry-offers-to-set-up-closed-user-groups-for-broadband-project.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/broadband-and-iptv-news/item/3007-rural-ministry-offers-to-set-up-closed-user-groups-for-broadband-project.html