The government?s ambitious plan to spend over Rs 40,000 crore to lay a country-wide optic fibre network, which would be leased to private operators for providing broadband services, particularly to the rural areas, sounds great on paper.
With the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) funds being provided to workers for digging and utilising the whopping Rs 14,000 crore in the Universal Service Obligation Fund the major stumbling block in conceptualising any plan?that of funding?is also taken care of. Nobody can fault the multiplier effect the move would have?12 lakh villages connected through broadband would obviously have a positive effect on the country?s GDP apart from bridging the digital divide.
But should not the entire exercise be passed on to the hands of the private sector, which would be able to do the task much better, effectively and faster? This brings us to the question of why private players have not done anything so far and why our broadband base is still abysmally low at around 6.5 million subscribers.The major stumbling block in the spread of broadband is the lack of the fibre, and the right of way charges, which varies from state to state making it very expensive.
This is further aggravated by dealing with multiple state and local level agencies. Despite such obstacles, the private operators have laid the fibre in most of the urban centres from where business is guaranteed. However, when it comes to rural areas obviously the private players won?t make the investment in the absence of certainty of returns, unless the government provides some sops.
In the Indian case, if the government just brings about a Right of Way legislation, which anyway it plans to do, while giving shape to its plan, then it does not have to make other efforts. By this single legislation the private players would lay the fibre themselves. They can then be provided assistance through the USO fund. That way the task is likely to be completed faster and more efficiently.
anandita.mankotia@expressindia.com