(a) whether the Government have invested more than Rs. 3,000 crore in laying optical fibre cables across the country through D.O.T. since eighties;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether by bringing the I.U. Net, the Government have ignored the claims of its own agencies to implement a Natural High Speed Data Network using its own know-how and experience ; and
(d) if so, the reasons therefor ?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS(SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a)& (b) Yes Sir. The Department has laid 1,71,297 Kms of optical fibre cable till March, 2000. Total expenditure on this account up to Feb 2000 has been approximately Rs 4888 crores.
(c) & (d) No Sir, The Government and other agencies in India have not been ignored, rather their association as stake holders in the project, will enable them to fully participate in all the affairs of the project including the implementation of the project itself. I.U. Net brings with it the knowledge of Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A. in the areas of High Speed Networking and Computing, which are essential before the proposed high-speed data equipments can be put to effective use.