Sterlite gets Rs 169 cr contract for MTNL

MUMBAI: Sterlite Optical Technologies on Thursday said it has received a contract worth Rs 169 crore from Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) for deploying broadband and metro ethernet network in Delhi and Mumbai.

The network, to be completed during by 2009, would be capable of handling about five lakh broadband connections in these cities, the provider of optical fibres said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

"Sterlite remains committed to facilitating the propagation of broadband in India and has developed the capability to provide these solutions for the telecom and broadband sectors. We are proud that MTNL has chosen us," Sterlite Optical CEO and Director Anand Agarwal said.

A metro ethernet is used as a metropolitan access network to connect subscribers and businesses to a wide area network such as the Internet. Large businesses can use Metro Ethernet to connect branch offices to their Intranets.

Ethernet also supports high bandwidths, which is not available with traditional connections. Another advantage of an ethernet-based access network is that it can be easily connected to the customer network.

In 2005-06, Sterlite launched its access business and has been involved in setting up the Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) core for MTNL. The broadband and ethernet network is an extension of the existing MPLS network.

The shares of the company were last trading 1.50 per cent up at Rs 209.90 on the BSE.