- Bihar gets a new Next Generation Network Telephone Exchange to serve the New Bihar Vidhan Mandal.
- Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launches completely wireless BSNL Bharat AirFibre for rural areas in Bihar.
- Bharat AirFibre works on the unlicensed spectrum, easy to deploy, and more reliable, Subscription starts at Rs. 349 / Month.
- 50 more AirFibre sector antennas to be deployed in Bihar within next six months announced – Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
- BSNL leaps forward to fulfill the Government of India's vision of Broadband to All.
On August 29, 2020, through Video conferencing from New Delhi, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, inaugurated a Next Generation Network Telephone Exchange at New Bihar Vidhan Mandal compound and Bharat Air Fibre service at Danapur Telephone Exchange in Bihar. Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Awadhesh Narain Singh, Chairman Bihar Legislative Council along with other dignitaries, graced the occasion.
This Next Generation Network Telephone exchange is a facility augmentation in Bihar Vidhan Mandal, which will serve to the additional demand for reliable wireline and broadband services since it is connected to an optical fiber. This exchange has a 512 telephone wireline capacity and 128 broadband connections, which can further be increased. New and Old Vidhan Mandal and 3 New Secretariat Block A, B, and C will be served through this new facility.
While newly commissioned Bharat AirFibre will help to provide faster and reliable internet services in the rural area, Bharat AirFibre has speed at par with high-speed fiber FTTH and will serve up to 6 Km area covering R.K.Puram, Anandpur, Danapur Market, and Danapur Cantonment from Danapur Telephone Exchange.
This being utterly wireless technology is easy to deploy, more reliable needs less maintenance, and will provide connectivity in Non-feasible areas and villages which can't be connected through FTTH. Bharat AirFibre works on the unlicensed spectrum and has less interference, enabling a better quality of relay for the subscribers.
Bharat AirFibre will start its Subscription at a low price point of Rs. 349 per month, this makes the internet accessible and affordable to users in villages and rugged terrains.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision is to convert challenges into an opportunity for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and on the same lines, my mission is also to take opportunities to rural corners of India. Especially in the Covid19 pandemic, there is immense scope for digital education, digital skilling, and telemedicine, and broadband connectivity in rural India will play a crucial role. Bharat AirFibre will help us to scale-up faster and meet the target of covering 6 Lakhs villages in 1000 Days.” said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
During the event, Telecom Minister also announced 50 more AirFibre sector antennas to be deployed in Bihar within the next six months.
In his address at the event, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Sushil Modi said, “Bihar Government has recently notified Right of Way (RoW) rules to facilitate better deployment of mobile tower antennas and laying of fiber optic cable in the state. I am also happy to mention recently I got the new BSNL FTTH broadband connection, and I am impressed with its high-speed connectivity.”
India's Government has allotted various national and strategic importance to BSNL. It helps BSNL contribute to nation-building such as Network for spectrum (NFS), Bharat Net project for Optical Fiber connectivity, including more than 3000 Gram Panchayats of strategic Union Territories of Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh. Recently BSNL has commissioned a submarine optical fiber cable between Chennai to Andaman & Nicobar Islands at a total cost of Rs 1224 Crore. Also, submarine Cable connectivity planned between the mainland and Lakshadweep Islands, and BSNL will execute it. The Government of India has allotted 4 G spectrum to BSNL, also worth nearly Rs 14,000cr. BSNL is making full preparation to launch 4G services across the country, thus boosting the Government's initiative of “make in India.”
Besides various Government projects, BSNL has also provided almost 3Lakh FTTH/ Broadband connections across the country to meet the enhanced internet requirements of ‘work from home' during the last six months. Also, to bring delight to the customers, BSNL has introduced various attractive tariff plans and simplified the multiple BSNL Portal processes for greater digital engagement.
Source: Press Release Release ID: 1649488 PIB Delhi Ministry of Communications Date: August 29, 2020
