Bsnl To Connect 1.4 Lakh Villages By Dec 2002

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has set a target of providing public telephones to 143,000 villages by December 2002.

BSNL will replace its existing overhead lines with other technologies including the wireless in local loop (WLL), time division multiple access (TDMA) and INMARSAT satellite to achieve the target.

During a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee for the ministry of communications held on December 10, BSNL said of the 607,000 villages, about 414,000 have been provided public telephones.

Private basic operators are also expected to offer public phones in 97,000 villages of which only 608 have been covered as on November 30, 2001.

BSNL has already placed orders for 600,000 lines of WLL systems of which 165,000 have been supplied.

The PSU has also issued purchase order for the procurement of 167 TDMA systems of which 77 have been deployed. 400 INMARSAT Mini M terminals have also been deployed as village public telephones in remote and isolated areas of the country.

While BSNL has covered all the villages in Andaman, Bihar, Kerala, Punjab and Delhi, states like Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have a large number of villages still uncovered.