The approval to proposal considers Lakshadweep, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands; intends to Rs. 1,000 crore from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF); proposes to lay down submarine optic fibre cable between Chennai and the Andamans; Clears the augmentation of satellite system for Lakshadweep

May 11, 2016

The inter-ministerial Telecom Commission has given its approval to proposals for improving connectivity to the Union territories of Lakshadweep, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands by spending nearly Rs 1,000 crore from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). Speaking to a leading national daily, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “The government is committed to make India a truly digital society and ensure that participative government is put in place. My ministry is carefully ensuring that benefits of digitalization and communication revolution are realized by people in every corner of the country. Nobody would be left out in the present drive of digitalizing India and making it integral part of credible governance.” The panel, on May 7, gave an in-principle approval for laying down of a submarine optic fiber cable between Chennai and Port Blair, and to five other islands in Andaman & Nicobar — Car Nicobar, Little Andaman, Havelock, Kamorta, and Great Nicobar. A capital expenditure of Rs 880.03 crore is expected to be made from the USOF for this purpose.

“Annual operational expenditure in the form of viability gap funding will be funded by Andaman & Nicobar Union Territory Administration initially for five years,” the document said. “Work has been awarded on nomination basis to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) as the project execution agency for implementation of the project on behalf of USOF,” according to a document reviewed by The Indian Express.

According to a senior official of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), laying of around 2,164 km of underwater optic fiber cable is likely to be completed by December 2018, and against a demand forecast of 55 gigabits per second (Gbps) of bandwidth, a 100 Gbps will be put in place.

Further, for the islands in Lakshadweep, the expenditure proposal for augmentation of satellite system for an estimated Rs 46.53 crore was cleared by the Telecom Commission. The augmentation of the satellites will juice up the bandwidth capacity almost three times to 318 megabits per second (Mbps) from the existing 102 Mbps. This project will also be funded by the USOF, but the annual transponder charges will be funded by the Union territory’s administration, the news daily reported.