BSNL Connects Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep Islands to Mainland Using Satellite Bandwidth

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which is known for helping the government in various projects such as BharatNet, setting up connectivity in North Eastern part has today announced the improvement of connectivity in Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep by connecting them to the mainland. BSNL has augmented satellite bandwidth in A&N Islands from 240 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Further, the bandwidth augmentation work is in progress, and 2 Gbps bandwidth connection will be established by December 2018. Coming to the Lakshadweep Islands, the bandwidth has been augmented from 102 Mbps to 354 Mbps. Due to this increase in bandwidth, the citizens of these Islands, as well as tourists, will be able to get faster internet service going forward.

N K Mehta, Director (Enterprise), BSNL, stated that “BSNL is expanding its connectivity and coverage to far-flung areas of the country. We are proud to connect India effectively without taking decisions only on a commercial basis.”

Furthermore, he informed that BSNL is in the process of connecting Andaman & Nicobar islands on Optical Fibre Submarine Cable link from Chennai to Port Blair and seven other islands namely- Hutbay, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Campbell Bay, Havelock, Long and Rangat. BSNL

is hoping that this project will be completed within the next two years and the expected initial capacity of these links will be 400 Gbps.

This is a significant move from the government-owned PSU and will surely improve the network experience for the citizens in these islands.

Very recently, BSNL announced its VSAT Satellite Gateways at Yeur and Sikandrabad located in Maharashtra and Bulandshahar in UP. With these gateways, BSNL aims to provide high-speed internet up to 100 Mbps. These gateways will allow BSNL to roll out high-speed broadband services in North Eastern states such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand and other left-wing extremism affected states such as Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand.