To maintain confidentiality in communication between its different departments over policy formulation, the government is setting up a dedicated telecom network for itself which would cost around Rs 600 crore. State-owned MTNL is building this secure wireline network in Delhi, which would be used by officials of different ministries and departments to exchange notes while working on important policy matters, sources said. The project is being funded by the central government.
The network is likely to be commissioned by December in Delhi and would be extended to other parts of the country in a phased manner. At a later stage, the other state-owned telecom firm BSNL would also be co-opted in the project. Equipment for the network has been supplied by C-DoT.
Once up and running, the new telecom network would replace the current RAX communication system which is used by government departments to communicate with each other. ?RAX has become outdated and there?s no point scaling it up. The government needs an alternate, dedicated telecom network on the lines of defence and railways,? officials said.
The current RAX communication system is restricted to certain high-ranking officials only in the central government. Its allocation is cleared by the home ministry. However, once the new telecom network is in place, its usage would be across the entire rank and file of the central government.
?The system would serve two purposes: one, it would check leakages which happen in the routine form of exchanging communication like sending files across different departments as confidential exchanges could be done on the dedicated, secure fax line and second, communication would be faster as it would be a dedicated network,? an official said.
Sources said that the idea of setting up a dedicated and secure telecom network for government communication emanated with the high incidence of leakages in the process of policy formulation in critical areas.
