Cabinet okays defence spectrum budget hike
The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure on Wednesday approved increasing the budget for laying of alternative communication network for defence services at a cost of ₹11,330 crore. This takes the total budget for the project — Network for Spectrum (NFS) project to ₹24,664 crore. The alternative communications network is being set up in lieu of airwaves vacated by the Defence Ministry for civilian use.
The project, which is being implemented by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), will be completed in a period of 24 months, Minister for Electronics and IT as well as Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
“The NFS project will boost the communication capabilities of the Defence Forces in a major way leading to enhanced national operational preparedness. The project will also have forward linkages to other related industries such as telecom equipment manufacturing and other telecommunication related services,” the government said.
In July 2012, the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure had approved enhancing the support for the project to ₹13,334 crore from ₹8,098 crore earlier “due to change in specifications and other requirements…”.
The increase in budget to ₹24,664 crore was approved by Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body in the DoT, in January this year. As per the DoT annual report for 2017-18, as on December 17, 2017, a fund of ₹6,600 crore had been released to BSNL for the project.
