Rs 1800 crore undersea cable to Singapore

New Delhi, Mar 6: A proposal to lay submarine Optical Fibre Cable from eastern coast of India to Singapore, to be jointly executed by state-owned telecom companies, MTNL and BSNL is being considered.

Minister of State for Communications and IT Shakeel Ahmad told the Rajya Sabha, in a written reply, that the current preliminary indications were that the project would be profitable.

Private telecom companies have already been providing this service on this route. Bharti Infotel and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited are providing this service through four cable systems in South East Asia, West Asia, Western Euope and Tata India Singapore Cable Systems.

Meanwhile MTNL is providing value added services in its entire network to increase revenue and also utilise the network to the fullest extent in line with the current trend in the telecom industry, Mr Ahmad said.

''The emphasis on value added services has been necessitated to generate revenue as tariff are falling because of fierce competition faced by MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai,'' the minister said.

UNI