Investment of INR 2000 Crore by BSNL to boost mobile/broadband connectivity in rural areas

NEW DELHI: The Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Shakeel Ahmad, has informed the Rajya Sabha that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to invest about Rs 2000 crore, to proliferate broadband in both urban and rural areas across the country in a progressive manner.

The Minister further stated that with effect from January 1, 2007, all the broadband customers, except those with unlimited plan, have been upgraded from the minimum speed of 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps at the existing tariff, subject to technical feasibility. The present broadband customer base of BSNL across the country is 8.77 lakhs.

He also informed the Lok Sabha that the government would provide support for provision of infrastructure for mobile services including Wireless Access Services using Fixed/Mobile terminals in rural and remote areas of the country.

"The infrastructure shall be created in those specified areas where no fixed wireless or mobile coverage exists," said Ahmad. "A total of 7,871 towers would be set up in rural and remote areas of the country in 500 districts spread over 27 states."

Tenders have been invited from the existing Basic Service Operators (BSO), Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS) providers, Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) and short-listed Infrastructure Providers Category-I (IP-I) comprising of both private and public sector operators. Bids have been received to set up these towers, he added. The Minister further stated that the policy on spectrum for 3G services would take into account the recommendations of GoM, which are awaited.