Corps of Signals bets big on Govt’s fibre optic promise

On its 105th year of service Corps of Signals is betting big on the nation-wide, dedicated fibre optic cable network that they have been promised by the government. As a Signals senior officer said recently: “We want to provide information as utility to the soldier.” The optical fibre network will help at least 400 work stations at any point in time on the network.

The cost of the network will eventually be around Rs 1300 crore along with the mobile cellular communication network (MCCS) – operational already in the Srinagar-based 15 Corps and the Leh-based 16 Corps of the arm.

The MCCS system entails that the army will have its own dedicated voice, data and video sharing network based on the mobile handset. The optical fibre network was promised to the army by the now ousted UPA II government when the army had given up unutilised spectrum on account of the civilian demand from them.

The fibre optic network will have geographical information system (GIS) riding on it. And on top of that, bulk energy transmission systems through satellite linkages. There is a logistics management system based on this, where the internet service provider is the armed forces.

On the existing data network, the Signals is providing a wide area network (WAN). Its going to have a dedicated captive network for the armed forces.

The senior Signals officer who briefed on the new infotech upgrade the armed forces are having stated that the air force was in a hurry for their “service-specific” requirements, so they had launched the AFNET which can now migrate to the dedicated to the network of the armed forces.

He also said that the cybersecurity aspect the of the programmes are being examined by the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE) based in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

On the 105th anniversary of the raising of the Signal Corps all these programmes show that how it is keeping in step with the changing environment.