Palike set to crack the whip on overhead OFC firms

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has warned  non-telecom service providers of snapping overhead Optical Fibre Cables (OFC) if they failed to pay licence fee and
enter into a pact with the civic agency.

Briefing reporters on Tuesday, Yediyur corporator N R Ramesh who is also a  member of a committee on OFCs, said the owners of the cables drawn overhead should fall in line or else face the music.

“The non-telecom service providers will have to submit applications online before June 1 failing which we will start disconnecting overhead OFCs,” he said.

The Palike has fixed a laying charge of Rs 850 per running metre of overhead OFCs for telecom service providers and Rs 1,700 for non-telecom service providers.

The OFC policy, he said, has fetched the Palike revenue of Rs 180 crore between February 1 and March 31, 2014, from telecom service providers.

“The revenue we got in two months is in contrast to what BBMP collected in the last 15 years. From April 1, 1999 to January 31, 2014, total revenue from telecom service providers for laying 65,000-km-long OFCs in Bangalore was Rs 21.67 crore. On the other hand, our revenue was Rs 180 crore in just two months,” he said. The revenue includes  Rs 41.18 crore collected as penalty.