MP SWAN project gets govt nod

There's good news for G2G private network players. The MP government today cleared the Rs 172 crore (to go up to Rs 175 crore) SWAN (state-wide area network) project.

A committee headed by Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni has put the project proposal for approval by the state cabinet.

Earlier, the central government had rolled out the State Wide Area Network Policy (national e-governance plan) to facilitate the creation of infrastructure by state governments up to the level of blocks and subsequently far-flung rural areas at a later stage.

"Today the project has been given green signal and this pertains to the state's contribution of Rs 54 crore. The state cabinet will approve it and get it sanctioned in the ongoing Budget session," a well-placed government source told Business Standard, adding, "the central government has sanctioned the fund and released a portion of the total of Rs 117 crore to the project, which was to be completed by June 2006. Earlier the state government had sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the project. It has been revised now."

"Now we will have to look for a vendor who can enter into a service level agreement with us. The points of presence (POPs) have already been created at 320 blocks in the state. We hope tenders for finding the private partner will be floated by March 15 and it will take at most three months to complete the process," Anurag Shrivastava, additional secretary, IT department, told Business Standard, adding, "Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is providing the bandwidth".

The private partner will get quarterly guaranteed returns, provided that it offers a defined level of services to the state government. "We will be able to terminate the agreement if we find that services offered by the partner are below defined standards," he said.

Another Rs 80 crore central government approved project is in the pipeline, which will start taking shape only after SWAN comes out of the drawing board. The state government has plans to create 9,300 community service centres where selected private partners will ensure citizen-centric services.