The NOFN project was approved by Cabinet in 2011 and deadline to connect all panchayats was fixed by end of 2013 then deferred to September 2015 by UPA government. Newly formed government In 2014 re-examined project status and set target to complete roll out in 50,000 village panchayats by March 31, 2015, and another 1 lakh by March 2016 and the rest by end of 2016.
Main Highlights

• It is a project to provide broadband connectivity to over two lakh (200,000) Gram panchayats of India at a cost of Rs.20, 000 crore.
• The project provides internet access using existing optical fiber and extending it to the Gram panchayats. Connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats and Blocks will be filled.
• The project was intended to enable the government of India to provide e-services and e-applications nationally.
• A special purpose vehicle Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) was created as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Companies Act of 1956 for the execution of the project.
• The project will be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and was estimated to be completed in 2 years.
• The project envisaged signing a tripartite MoU for free Right of Way (RoW) among the Union Government, State Government and Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL).
• All the Service Providers like Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), ISPs, Cable TV operators etc. will be given non-discriminatory access to the National Optic Fibre Network and can launch various services in rural areas. Various categories of applications like e-health, e-education and e-governance etc. can also be provided by these operators.

Weaknesses of project:

• Weak demand may affect the viability of the project.
• Problems of rural areas like power, theft etc. may strain the performance of the network
• Health of existing fiber network may impact the SLAs(Service Level Agreements)
• Complexities of the project may delay the project.
• Dependence on the three PSUs may affect the performance of the company.
• Operators not having connectivity at Block level will have to depend upon others, leading to interconnect and competitive issues.
• Government funding to this project is not sufficient.
• There is very little incentives to private player.
• Lack of coordination between center and states.

Benefits of Project:

• Broadband is expected to play a notable role is e- education. Various initiatives of the Government for increasing the use of ICT in education are already in progress (for instance, Sarve Shiksha Abhiyan, Education for All programme has a component of Computer Aided Learning (CAL).
• It will help in providing medical services. Medical advice, monitoring, diagnosis and training delivered through broadband could help in bridging these gaps
• Availability of broadband in rural areas will help small scale industries in e-commerce business.