BSNL to spend Rs 4,300 Cr on network expansion next year

NewsBharati    26-Mar-2018
Total Views |

New Delhi, March 26: State-owned telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is set to invest about Rs 4,300 crore on its network expansion during 2018-19, along with additional Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore to boost the government telecom projects like Bharat Net.

BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said the investment of Rs 4,300 crore earmarked for BSNL's own expansion will primarily go into strengthening the mobile network, upgrading broadband infrastructure and strengthening the core network.

"Rs 5,000-6,000 crore will be spent on the government projects like Bharat Net, Network for Spectrum, the Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North East, as well as boosting connectivity to the Andamans with optical fibre network, and others," he said.

Other government projects that BSNL is executing, include providing bandwidth to the Lakshadweep islands, and connecting remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

"The government is investing in large connectivity projects, where private players are not going. BSNL is being used as one of the vehicles to execute those projects and we do that work on behalf of the government," he said.

Shrivastava said that the telecom corporation will look at installing 12,000 mobile towers for 3G services and 10,000 for 4G services. This will have a provision for 100% expansion mapped to BSNL's 4G rollout and spectrum allocation.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd BSNL network BSNL Investment Bharat Net telecom project