Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications has officially signed a strategic five-year agreement with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) to establish a state-of-the-art End-to-End Optical Network Test Bed.
Funded and supported by DoT, this Test Bed will be located at the C-DOT Campus in New Delhi. It will serve as a critical real-world environment to accelerate the development, testing, and commercialization of optical communication solutions created by Indian startups and industry players.
What are the benefits of End-to-End Optical Network Test Bed?
The Test Bed will serve as a platform for skill development and capacity building in advanced optical communications. It will be providing students, researchers, startups and industry professionals opportunities for hands-on training and exposure to next-generation optical networking technologies. It will be a shared national resource for innovation, testing, validation, skill development and commercialization.
Implementation Phases
The technical blueprint structures the initiative into two definitive phases:
- Set-up Phase (Years 1–2): Focuses on creating the necessary infrastructure for the Test Bed, including the various elements of Optical Core, Optical Access as well as Quantum Security besides third party advanced test & measurement tools from trusted vendors, resulting in the formal rollout of the test bed.
- Operations & Maintenance Phase (Years 3–5): Dedicated to sustained test bed maintenance, direct technical support for ecosystem users, and targeted educational outreach programs.
Empowering India’s Optical Communication Ecosystem
- This public-funded project will primarily bridge the gap between lab-stage innovation and market readiness.
- It will further accelerate the development and deployment of home-grown optical communication technologies, to further advance the vision of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” and strengthen India’s capabilities in next-generation communication infrastructure.
- It will function as a catalyst for the Indian telecom ecosystem by combining C-DOT’s mature, field-ready products across optical core, access, and Quantum Security technologies.
About Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT)
- C-DOT is a premier telecom technology research and development center of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications
- Foundation: Established in August 1984 as an autonomous telecommunications technology development body.
- Location: Headquartered in New Delhi, with major campuses including units in Bengaluru
- Objective: Designed to build indigenous telecom technology, reduce foreign dependency, and secure India’s digital communications network
- It has consistently been at the forefront of developing indigenous, secure, standards-compliant and deployment-ready telecom technologies, aligned with the national priorities of technological self-reliance and secure digital infrastructure.