BSNL & MTNL's undersea cable plan gets leg up

NEW DELHI: Public sector BSNL and MTNL’s plans to have their own undersea cable systems is gaining momentum. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked Millennium Telecom Ltd (a JV between BSNL and MTNL, which has been set up to execute the project) to finalise the countries and the locations where these cables will land by the next month-end. The PSUs have also been asked to work with the ministry of external affairs to get landing rights in transit countries.

In the first phase, the PSUs plan to invest Rs 1,800 crore to build two cable links — to Singapore and West Asia, which they later plan to expand to the US and Europe, respectively. On completion, the PSUs will join Bharti, VSNL and Reliance Communications. Sources said that MTL has already finished the feasibility and technical studies for the project.

The DoT in a recent review meeting on the project, has set June 30 as the deadline for identifying the landing stations. It has also asked MTNL to send the draft copies of the letters, which it intends to send to countries in West Asia, to the ministry of external affairs for its approval.

Additionally, in the meeting it was also decided that the undersea cable to Singapore will have two branches — Port Blair and Car Nicobar — which offers connectivity to the Andaman. The department, during the meeting, also proposed that the tenders for the Singapore and West Asia cables be floated separately, sources said.

They also added that four global submarine cable infrastructure majors — NEC and Fujitso from Japan, USA’s Tyco Networks and France’s Alcatel — have all expressed interest to bid for the tender to build the submarine cables, but this could not be independently confirmed by ET.

BSNL and MTNL have also reached an agreement on all outstanding issues in relation to the JV. As per the agreement, both PSUs have given an undertaking that they would use MTL’s infrastructure for a minimum period of 20 years.