On December 30, 2018, the prime minister had laid the foundation for the 2,312-kilometers long submarine optical fibre cable project connecting Chennai - Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI).
It has been over two decades since the cabinet cleared the BharatNet project, earlier known as National Optical Fibre Network. However, progress of the programme has been slow. While the government had set the target of connecting 100,000 gram panchayats by 2013, it took another four years to achieve this target in December 2017. Progress under the current administration has improved, but the government has again missed its targets.
Railtel Corporation of India, a public sector unit under Railways, plans to build high-speed optical fibre cable network using latest technologies on 42,000 km route of railway tracks by March 31, 2008.
When elephants are identified close to or on the tracks, real-time alerts are sent to locomotive pilots, station masters and control rooms, allowing trains to slow down or stop in time.
The Parliament House Complex in New Delhi is set to undergo a comprehensive security upgrade, including an electric power fence, a fiber optic-based Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS), and an integrated CCTV surveillance network.
Under the pact, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries' telecom arm will hire nationwide optical fibre network of Reliance Communications for the roll-out of 4G services.
Department of telecommunications has set up a committee to look into the issue of escalating cost for the project.
After being at loggerheads for 8 years, Ambani brothers have sealed a Rs 1,200-crore (Rs 12-billion) deal wherein Mukesh will use his younger sibling's optic fibre network for launch of his telecom venture.
Broadband connectivity to villages has been lagging, with delay in laying of an optical fibre network up to gram panchayats
Anil Ambani Group firm Flag Telecom on Monday announced the acquisition of US-based Ethernet services provider Yipes Communications for 300 million dollars (Rs 1,200 crore) in cash.
Telecom service providers and the Maha Kumbh Mela administration are on their toes to ensure smooth connectivity at the grand event set to witness record teledensity.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Thursday quashed the markets regulator Sebi's order imposing a fine of Rs 7 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the dark-fibre case. Additionally, the tribunal has set aside a fine of Rs 5 crore levied by Sebi on the exchange's former official Anand Subramanian. Further, it has partly set aside the regulator's order against former MD and CEO of NSE Chitra Ramkrishna, ex-official Ravi Varanasi and a few stock brokers, among others.
The network has been built by six telcos to handle high bandwidth demands of emerging technologies and applications.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Jayant Bhusare, who was one of the executive of Sampark Infotainment, in a case pertaining to the irregularities in the NSE's 'Dark Fibre' case. He has been directed to pay the fine within 45 days, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in its order. On Tuesday, the regulator had levied a fine totaling Rs 44 crore on 18 entities, including NSE, Sampark, certain brokers and their respective past and present employees in the same matter.
The amount from securitisation has been utilised to repay rupee debt, saving significant interest costs for the company.
In the third infrastructure sharing agreement between firms run by brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Reliance Industries' telecom arm has agreed to use Reliance Communication Ltd's intra-city fibre network to roll out 4G services.
After record rains wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two days, the death toll in related incidents rose to 41, most of them victims of the landslide on a Vaishno Devi pilgrimage route, while there was some let-up in the showers on Wednesday, allowing relief efforts to pick up pace.
According to sources in the know, Anil Ambani-led RCom will be providing all infrastructure - towers, fibre, backhaul as well as its national and international long distance facilities-- to RIL's high-speed broadband services.
Relentless heavy rain led to a landslide on the route to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop the Trikuta hill on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least five people and injuring 14, officials said.
Mukesh and Anil will announce two more infrastructure-sharing agreements by mid-June.
The idea is to reduce capital investments and improve profitability.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is learnt to have approached Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for additional funds to carry out schemes committed under Universal Services Obligation fund scheme.
Kavach 3.2 version is being installed on approved high-density routes, the railway officials said, adding that upgrading and installation of the latest version on new routes will go on simultaneously to cover a wider railway network in a shorter period.
Right after it returned to the telecom sector by acquiring Infotel Broadband, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL) began discussions with brother Anil Ambani's mobile service provider, Reliance Communications (RCom), for a possible sharing of infrastructure.
The principal delay is because the defence forces, which are expected to vacate some spectrum for mobile service providers, are yet to identify locations for some sites for an alternative optic fibre network that is being developed for them.
Reliance Infocomm has started its broadband operations with the launch of Digital Electronic News Gathering service that enables TV channels to broadcast quality news video from a remote location to the studio directly.
UP East tops number of rural internet users; Urban internet subscriber base stands at 231 million, rural at 112 million
Reliance Infocomm Ltd is to roll out its broadband initiative in the next 12-24 months in the country and is scouting for partners for digital distribution of the content.
Jio will woo consumers with new products as well as technology, offering them quadplay services - TV, data, voice and mobile - seamlessly working across the platforms, with a single bundled offer and just one bill.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country needs to focus on imparting skills to its young population in order to compete with China, apart from bringing revolutionary changes in agriculture and energy sectors.
'The next decade will be even more transformative,' says Prime Minister Modi. 'We are moving from digital governance to global digital leadership.'
The government is planning to merge Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) with the loss-making state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) this month, a senior official has said. BSNL chairman and managing director PK Purwar at a recent event organised by the All India Graduate Engineers and Telecom officers Association (AIGETOA) said that the government is giving the telecom firm an opportunity for a turnaround. "The government has taken a policy decision that BBNL is going to be merged into BSNL. "This means all work of BBNL at the pan-India level is going to come to BSNL," Purwar said at the All India Conference of AIGETOA on March 13.
The government expects to realise Rs 35,100 crore from the partial sale of Bharatnet fibre assets and around 13,500 mobile towers owned by state-run telecom firms as part of its national monetisation pipeline released on Monday. Government think tank Niti Aayog has valued over 2.86 lakh kilometre of optical fibre assets laid by BBNL and BSNL under rural broadband project Bharatnet at Rs 26,300 crore, according to the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) document. According to the document, BSNL's 13,567 mobile tower assets and MTNL's 1,350 towers have been valued at Rs 8,800 crore.
IMD is preparing a concept paper on narrowing its grid resolution from 22 sq km to 10 sq km.
5G networks in India can be deployed in three months but in limited areas as the optical fibre based infrastructure to support the technology is not ready yet, telecom industry players said on Tuesday. Nokia India head of marketing and corporate affairs Amit Marwah said that India has to take a call on deployment of 5G services otherwise it will miss to take advantage of the next generation technology that it can bring for the economy.
Reliance Jio Infocomm is the only company which had in 2010 won a pan-India spectrum for 4G services but is yet to start commercial services.
On Monday, Ambani had said the Reliance group was open to join hands with Bharti Airtel for improving telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.
Sebi has imposed a penalty totalling Rs 44 crore on 18 entities, including the National Stock Exchange, its business development officer Ravi Varanasi, former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna and her adviser Subramanian Anand along with certain stock brokers in the 'dark fibre' case.
A DoT panel has suggested completely opening up the telecom sector to foreign direct investment, a move which is expected to bring in fresh funds into the industry that is facing a financial crisis.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances