PM Modi to inaugurate Chennai-Port Blair submarine cable; big boost to Andaman & Nicobar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair on Monday, August 10, via video conferencing, an official release said on Friday. The submarine cable will also connect Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep (Havelock) island, Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Great Nicobar, Kamorta, Long Island, and Rangat.

The new network connectivity will enable the delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecom services to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on par with other parts of India. PM Modi had laid the foundation stone for this project on 30th December 2018 at Port Blair.

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The submarine OFC link will deliver bandwidth of 2 x 200 Gigabits per second (Gbps) between Chennai and Port Blair, and 2 x 100 Gbps between Port Blair and the other islands.

"The provision of reliable, robust, and high-speed telecom and Broadband facilities in these Islands will be a landmark achievement from the viewpoint of consumers, as well as for strategic and governance reasons. 4G mobile services, which were constrained due to limited backhaul bandwidth provided via satellite will also see a major improvement" the release said.

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Boons of telecom and Broadband connectivity

Improved telecom and Broadband connectivity will promote tourism and employment generation in the Islands, give an impetus to the economy and raise standards of living, the release added. Better connectivity will also promote the delivery of e-Governance services such as telemedicine and tele-education. "Small enterprises will benefit from opportunities in e-commerce, while educational institutions will utilize the enhanced availability of bandwidth for e-learning and knowledge sharing. Business Process Outsourcing services and other medium and large enterprises will also reap the benefits of better connectivity" the release stated.

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The project is funded by the Centre through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications. About 2300 Kms of Submarine OFC cable has been laid at a cost of about Rs 1224 Crore, and the project has been completed as per schedule. It was executed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) are the Technical Consultants.

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Image PTI