Our Indian Defence forces symbolize the ideals of service,patriotism, and composite culture of the country. They are always committed totheir mission critical goals of peacekeeping, humanitarian missions andnational security, safeguarding our nation against all odds. The defencetelecom project, conceptualised in 2010, marks how the 3G airwaves vacated byarmed forces enabledthe Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to auction 3G spectrum four yearsago. The 3G spectrum auction was done for frequencies that laid the foundationfor the next-gen telecom services. The deployment of 3G services gave a tremendousboost to the telecom sector by increasing rural penetration of the telecomservices to bring about economic and social development.
A step in the service of thenation
While the Ministry of Defence took this huge step in the service of thenation and released 20 MHz of 2G and 25 MHz of 3G spectrum forcommercial use, theDepartment of Telecom (DoT) committed to set up an exclusive network,solely for defence communication purpose. In 2012, the Ministry of Defence andDoT conceptualized a network to connect critical defence locations, under theNetwork for Spectrum (NFS) project.
The DoT gave BSNL the responsibility for constructing a mega communications network, forthe armed forces, that has several key packages, including the optical fibrebackbone, network management systems, and a satellite network.
Serving the country isinstilled in STL’s DNA. STL understood the criticality of the project andequipped defence forces with a robust network, for servicing the nation. STLengaged with the MoD to design, build, and manage an intrusion-proof,defence-grade, highly secured communication network.
The project envisaged creating an optical fibre-based networkfor the exclusive communication use of defence. The project was crucial and in the nationalinterest as, going forward, the armed forces agreed to migrate all theircommunication needs to this alternate network and vacate more bandwidth forcommercial telephony.
Deploying OFC in the toughestterrains
The most crucial component ofNFS was the deployment of the Optic-fibre Cable (OFC) in the geological strataof the sensitive region of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). It is one of India’smost sensitive areas in all geopolitical aspects, be it terrorism, borderinfiltration, or extreme weather conditions.
The results were achieved with pride. A criticalinfrastructure in both telecommunications and power transmission wasestablished in the national interest, aiding our brave soldiers with seamlesscommunication. With a bottoms-up approach, enabling realistic planning &preparation for the worst case scenarios, STL achieved top quality rollouts inone of the most challenging terrains of the world.
The world’s largest end-to-end intrusion-proof, highly secure,scalable, cost optimized, and smart network infrastructure for defence forceswas created in J&K and the capabilities in the power and telecom space werebeing put to use in India’s critical corridors.
The project was marked by the best cable laying standards andpractices including intrusion-proof cable technology, network monitoring, andGIS mapping, making it the most advanced and secure network for the armedforces.
The NFShas boosted the communication capabilities of defence forces in a major wayenhancing national operational preparedness and real-time connect in the highestbattlefield of the world. Besides, it has enabled forward linkages to otherrelated industries such as telecom equipment manufacturing and telecom relatedservices – all this in the service of the nation!
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