BSNL buys 156 more towers for areas affected by left wing extremism

NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom firm BSNL has placed purchase orders for 156 additional towers under a scheme to strengthen mobile network facility in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).

The orders are worth Rs 275 crore, including capital expenditure and operational expenditure for a period of five years, BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI.

"The project for extension of 156 towers in Left Wing Extremism areas, is currently on. Following the completion of work on 2,199 towers, we have placed purchase orders for 156 additional towers last month, as part of the same tender," he said.


The additional towers will be installed by July 2017, he added.

"The purchase orders have already been issued and they are distributed amongst various states that suffer from LWE and divided amongst two vendors of BSNL, that is Vihaan Networks Limited and HFCL," he said.

The states include Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.

Government has launched a scheme to install mobile towers at 2,199 locations identified by Ministry of Home Affairs in 10 States, affected by LWE, at an estimated implementation cost of Rs 3,567.58 crore.

The work for the same is being executed by BSNL and the cost for the project is borne by the government.