BSNL joins undersea cable league with 'Bharat-Lanka' link
Public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is joining the undersea cable league. The telecom giant’s Rs 200-crore submarine cable linking India and Sri Lanka will be commissioned on Thursday.
By Rashmi Pratap, TNN |
MUMBAI: Public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is joining the undersea cable league. The telecom giant’s Rs 200-crore submarine cable linking India and Sri Lanka will be commissioned on Thursday. The ‘Bharat-Lanka’ optical fibre cable is BSNL’s first undersea cable out of India.
BSNL, along with Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), has invested around Rs 150-200 crore in the cable. It links Tuticorine in Tamil Nadu and Mount Lavinia in Sri Lanka.
The cable link will enable BSNL to reduce its dependence on international long distance operators (ILDO), Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.
“With this cable, BSNL will have the opportunity to offer very competitive IPLC (international private leased circuit) tariffs to Indian customers,” a senior BSNL official told ET.
The cable will give BSNL access to other countries through other cable systems, including SMW3 and SMW4. These two cables run from India to Europe and Asia.
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Currently, the digital radio link between BSNL and SLT gives citizens of both countries access to a backbone with a bandwidth of 34Mbps. The new cable will initially support 10 gigabits per second of traffic capacity, which will be upgraded to 160 gigabits per second as traffic grows.“The India-Sri Lanka cable will extend the broadband IP backbone network, allowing higher speeds and more effective transfers between the two countries,” the official said.
BSNL, along with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), is also planning to lay a cable connecting India to South-East Asia and the Middle East with an investment of Rs 1,800 crore. The India-Sri Lanka cable is likely to be extended to South East Asia, sources said.
BSNL’s undersea cable plans are aimed at reducing the telco’s dependence on other ILD operators. While analysts estimate that it’ll be six to eight years before the company’s cable operations reach the break-even point, BSNL is going ahead with the planned investments to be self-reliant in the long term.
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Currently, BSNL buys bandwidth from the three ILD operators through a monthly tender process. “We want to eventually end all dependence on private ILDOs. Bandwidth prices have come down from Rs 14 crore per 150 Mbps to Rs 3 crore. One, we want lower prices and secondly, our bandwidth needs are increasing fast. We need our own cable systems,” the official said.Start a SIP with as low as ₹500 with ET Money App!
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