The Hindu Business Line : BSNL-MTNL to roll out cable links to Singapore, West Asia

Project details
The first project will include an under-sea link from India to Singapore and a land link from Singapore to Malaysia.
BSNL is also set to launch its under-sea cable link with Sri Lanka shortly.

NEW CHANNEL: The IT & Communications Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, and the Chairman of ADAG Group, Mr Anil Ambani, making the first call to inaugurate FALCON in the Capital on Tuesday. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Sept. 5

State-run telecom majors Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd are all set to make a splash in the under-sea cable segment.

The two companies have joined hands to build an under-sea cable from India to Singapore and Malaysia and another to West Asia, which will be extended up to the US and Europe. The details of the projects are being worked out.

The first project will include an under-sea link from India to Singapore and a land link from Singapore to Malaysia.

BSNL is also set to launch its under-sea cable link with Sri Lanka shortly.

The Union IT and Communications Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, announced this today while inaugurating the Reliance Communication-owned FALCON Cable System.

Mr Maran also urged the ambassadors of the West Asian countries present at the occasion to work towards bringing down the landing costs of submarine cables in their respective countries.

"The modest growth in the bandwidth demand would soon exhaust the current inventory of unutilised circuits on many submarine cables. In view of the future bandwidth growth potential, all operators are trying to have their own cable system to meet the future demand. Let us work together to bring down the landing costs in our respective countries," Mr Maran said while inaugurating the FALCON submarine cable link with eleven 11 including Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

The 12,000-km-long submarine system, rolled out at a cost of $500 million, has the capacity to offer 2.5 terabits.

Under-sea cables offer international bandwidth used by Internet service providers, business process outsourcing units and IT enabled service providers.

Landing costs add to the overall costs of the bandwidth.

The Minister's statement assumes significance in the light of a recent move by Reliance to lodge a complaint against VSNL for charging high rates for accessing its landing station in Mumbai.

VSNL has maintained that the access charges were in line with the market rates.