The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which works under the Ministry of Communications, has signed a strategic five-year agreement with the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) to set up an End-to-End Optical Network Test Bed at the C-DOT campus in New Delhi. The agreement was signed on 27 August 2026 by representatives of the two organisations, with Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO of C-DOT, and senior DoT officials present. The publicly funded facility will give Indian startups and industry players a real-world environment to develop, test and bring to market indigenously built optical communication technologies.
What Is an Optical Network Test Bed?
An optical network is a communication network that carries data as pulses of light through thin strands of glass or plastic called optical fibres. A test bed is a controlled, real-world setup where new technologies are tested before they are released for mass use. So an End-to-End Optical Network Test Bed is a facility where the entire optical network, from the access part that reaches a home to the core part that forms the national backbone, can be assembled, tested and validated under realistic conditions.
Optical fibres work on the scientific principle of total internal reflection, where light bounces along the inside of the fibre and stays trapped in its core. Because light carries far more information than electrical signals, fibre networks offer much higher speed, lower delay and less signal loss than traditional copper wires. This is why modern broadband, submarine cable and national backbone systems all run on optical fibre.
What the Agreement Includes
The five-year agreement was signed on 27 August 2026 in the presence of Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO of C-DOT, along with Sh. Alok Shukla, Advisor (Technology) at DoT, and Sh. Atul Kumar Singh, DDG (Networks and Technologies) at DoT. The project is fully funded and supported by DoT.
The technical blueprint divides the project into two phases:
| Phase | Duration | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Set-up Phase | Years 1 to 2 | Building the optical core, optical access and quantum security elements, along with third-party test and measurement tools from trusted vendors, and formally rolling out the test bed |
| Operations and Maintenance Phase | Years 3 to 5 | Maintaining the facility, providing technical support to ecosystem users and running educational outreach programmes |
The test bed will combine C-DOT’s mature, field-ready products across optical core, optical access and quantum security technologies to act as a catalyst for the Indian telecom ecosystem.
Who Will Use the Test Bed
The facility is designed as a shared national resource for innovation, testing, validation, skill development and commercialisation. It mainly bridges the gap between lab-stage innovation and market readiness, so that promising ideas do not die in the laboratory.
Students, researchers, startups and industry professionals will get hands-on training and exposure to next-generation optical networking technologies. Indian startups and manufacturers working on optical components, modules and systems will be able to validate their products before commercial deployment.
C-DOT: India’s Telecom R&D Pioneer
The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is the telecom technology research and development centre of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications. It was established in August 1984 as an autonomous body and is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It is also registered as a public funded research institution with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
C-DOT triggered a telecom revolution in rural India with its early products, notably the rural automatic exchange (RAX), which brought affordable digital telephony to villages at a fraction of the cost of imported systems. Its current portfolio spans optical transmission, gigabit passive optical networks, switching and routing, wireless technologies including 4G and 5G core and radio, and quantum key distribution (QKD) systems.
C-DOT has also worked on quantum key distribution, a technique that uses quantum states of light to create unhackable encryption keys, positioning India among the few nations working on quantum-secure communication. Its optical and gigabit passive optical network systems form the backbone of the BharatNet rural broadband rollout.
Why This Test Bed Matters
India is expanding its optical fibre footprint rapidly. BharatNet, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity programme, aims to connect lakhs of gram panchayats with high-speed fibre. Under the Amended BharatNet Program approved by the Union Cabinet in August 2023, the government aims to provide optical fibre connectivity to about 2.64 lakh gram panchayats using a ring topology, and the programme now also extends fibre connectivity to rural households.
A shared, DoT-funded test bed supports this vision by ensuring that the optical equipment deployed in these networks is validated, standards-compliant and indigenous. It aligns with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision by reducing dependence on imported optical networking equipment and building domestic capability.
The Bigger Policy Picture
The test bed sits within a broader push for indigenous telecom research. The Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF), launched in 2022 under DoT, promotes research and development in rural-specific communication technologies, with funding for 5G, 6G, IoT and advanced telecom research. As of mid-2026, about 136 research and development projects worth nearly ₹543 crore have been approved under the scheme.
India also built an indigenous 5G test bed, developed by a consortium of eight academic institutions led by IIT Madras and funded by DoT. It allows Indian academia and industry to validate their 5G products and prototypes. The optical network test bed is expected to play a similar role for optical networking technologies, from access networks to the high-capacity backbone.
Key Takeaways
- The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) signed a strategic five-year agreement with C-DOT on 27 August 2026 to establish an End-to-End Optical Network Test Bed at the C-DOT campus in New Delhi.
- The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) was established in August 1984 as an autonomous telecom R&D centre of DoT and is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- The test bed will be developed in two phases: a Set-up Phase in the first two years and an Operations and Maintenance Phase in the remaining three years.
- The facility is funded by DoT and will help Indian startups and industry validate indigenous optical communication technologies, in line with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision.
- C-DOT’s optical and gigabit passive optical network systems form the backbone of the BharatNet rural broadband programme, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity programme.
- The Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme has approved about 136 R&D projects worth nearly ₹543 crore for indigenous telecom research.
