Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006 |
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Infrastructure Info-Tech - Telecommunications BSNL to connect rural areas with copters' help Thomas K. Thomas
RINGING RURAL
New Delhi , March 27 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is indeed going where no other telecom operator has gone before. In a bid to lay a cellular network covering the entire population in the country, the state-owned company is leaving no stone unturned. It is using even helicopters to fly down mobile equipment in areas where the road network is yet to reach. And if that's not enough, BSNL has hired a fleet of trucks that ferry diesel every day to power the huge generators that run the mobile base stations, in areas where there is no electricity.
Covering more areas
"We have already covered more than 7,000 towns which is more than the number of towns listed as per the official records. Now we are moving to areas where there may be little or no infrastructure when it comes to roads or power," said Mr A.K. Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director.
Tender floated
The company had recently floated a tender to acquire cellular equipment for rolling out 63 million lines, of which more than 50 per cent is being deployed in rural India. BSNL is laying a full network in the North East too where the tough hilly terrain makes it hard for installing the equipment required to offer mobile services. "By the end of this project, 100 per cent of habitable India will be covered. It is a challenging task but full of opportunity considering that India's mobile penetration is only 8.5 per cent. There is a huge pent up demand," said Mr Sinha.
User base
At present, BSNL has 16.1 million cellular users across 21 circles and has higher average revenue per user compared to private operators despite concentrating more on the semi-urban and rural areas. The company is hoping to get 20 million users a year, most of which is expected to come from non-urban areas.
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