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BSNL may get $3.8bn broadband project
12 July 2010
India’s state run operator BSNL is set to win a government deal to improve rural broadband services using WiMax
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India
BSNL
rural broadband
WiMax
The Indian government is seeking to award state-owned telco BSNL a $3.8 billion project to improve its broadband connectivity in the country. The projects involve building WiMax networks across rural India and laying a 500,000 kilometre optic-fibre cable to ensure that broadband connectivity reaches every rural region.
The government is also seeking to double the subsidy that BSNL receives to maintain its unviable landline business in rural and remote areas of India to $855 million a year.
BSNL’s original tender for 63 million GSM lines in 2006 was slashed to 12 million by telecom minister A Raja. The next tender for 93 million GSM lines, the world’s largest equipment order, was cancelled after a series of controversies. GTB