THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) has termed as baseless the allegations raised in the ongoing audit that said the cables used for the high-speed internet project were from China, which violated norms that recommended the use of domestic cables in the tender conditions.
“K-FON began the procurement of cables after getting all the approvals from the technical committee and the Union government,” MD Santhosh Babu said on Friday. K-FON started procurement of cables from China as per restrictions under Rule 144 (xi) of the General Financial Rules, 2017.
“Contractors shall not be allowed to subcontract work to any contractor from a country that shares a border with India unless the contractor is registered with the competent authority. However, no such restriction is stipulated in the order regarding procurements of other goods and services,” say the rules.
Santhosh said optical fibres cannot be compared with normal earth wires. “Optical fibres are six times more expensive. Procurement of cables started earlier and the laying of cables was going at a fast pace. However, the pandemic stopped procurement, following which K-FON approached China to quickly complete the laying process. All the cables are of a good standard. Hence, the allegations that they are substandard are also baseless,” Santhosh said.
The controversy was triggered after the audit report was leaked to the media. As per the tender conditions, only equipment designed, manufactured, tested, and bought from Indian manufacturers should be used for the high-speed internet project.
This was flouted, said the report. It said even the quality of cables supplied by Korean firm LS Cable and System for the K-FON project was tested in China, despite the tender saying the tests should be done in India.
To this, Santhosh said the Korean firm has an Indian subsidiary. “Since it is registered in India, we can consider it an Indian company. So, we have met the tender conditions. Meanwhile, 17 tests are required to be done, some of which cannot be done in India. So we conducted some tests in China. All the cables have IEEE standards,” he said.