Port Blair, June 11: According to a report by Kalyan Parbat for The Economic Times, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) plans to implement ventures worth Rs 6,000 crore this fiscal year. These include Wi-Fi rollout in key tourism hotspots, extending mobile coverage in Maoist-affected areas and revamping communications infrastructure in the strategic Andaman & Nicobar Islands, officials said.
The struggling telecom operator will launch Wi-Fi hotspots in prominent locations such as Agra, Varanasi, Hyderabad, and Fatehpur Sikri, and shortly finalise the second wave of Wi-Fi rollout zones, a top official said. “BSNL will shortly float tenders to extend mobile connectivity to all uncovered regions of Arunachal and Assam,” said another senior official in the Department of Telecom (DoT). This project will entail an investment of nearly Rs 2,000 crore, he said.
The bulk of these projects will be funded by the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), a DoT arm that subsidises rural network infrastructure rollouts. BSNL is also revamping the existing satellite gateway in Andaman & Nicobar archipelago and overseeing the rollout of mobile towers there. (Source: The Economic Times)
