13/7 effect? Centre to roll out exclusive phone network for officers

After last month’s serial blasts in Mumbai,Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had complained that he could not reach his top officers,including the police chief,for nearly 15 minutes due to “complete collapse” of the mobile phone network.

Sources said secure VoIP customer premise equipment (CPE) would be integrated with existing landline numbers and restricted exchange (RAX) which is a limited secure phone system exclusively for the Prime Minister,his Cabinet colleagues,senior secretaries and private secretaries of ministers.

“The analog integration would provide alternatives in the event either the server fails or the primary network connection trips,” they said.

The Centre for Development of Telematics,which will execute the project with MTNL operating it,has been asked to demonstrate the safety of the VoIP CPEs to security agencies as well as the ministries of home,defence and external affairs for a “formal approval”.

The core equipment will be at North Block and C-DOT campus in Mehrauli with routers at four locations,all connected through optical fibres. The home ministry will foot the project bill and pay MTNL for the monthly operation,which is estimated at Rs 1.20 crore.

The pilot project is expected to be installed by end-October with the commissioning planned for November,said sources.