BSNL to invest Rs 2,000 cr for broadband penetration by 2007

New Delhi, Dec 21 (UNI) State-owned telecom service provider BSNL will invest up to Rs 2,000 crore to penetrate its broadband service in rural and urban areas.

While announcing its plan for the coming year, BSNL Cheif Managing Director R P Sinha said, ''Of the total amount, Rs 1,500 crore will be invested in urban areas and the rest will be utilised for rural areas, to further improve the broadband infrastructure.'' In the rural areas, the company expect to raise 1,000 Wimax towers by July next year.

''We need government assistance to further promote our broadband facilities, '' BSNL Director (Plg and NS) R L Dube said.

Meanwhile, BSNL is in the process of launching broadband access through Wimax technology in about 1,000 block headquarters with support from the government which will cover an area of about 20-25 kms in each block.

The company will add five million port capacity to the existing capacity of one million ports, of which 1.84 million ports will be contributed by the rural areas, he added.

BSNL expects to cover 1,000 cities and 20,000 villages in its broadband map in the coming year.

It will come up with 10,000 and 20,000 broadband enabled exchanges in urban and rural areas respectively.