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VSNL chalks out 24-city ISP expansion
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi : Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has chalked out a two-phased expansion plan to roll out its Internet service network in 24 cities in the next few months, with the total project cost estimated at Rs 300 crore. "We plan to roll out ISP services in 24 cities in the next few months depending upon the availability of leased lines," Mr Amitabh Kumar, director (operations), VSNL, told PTI. He said the investment in the expansion was estimated at Rs 300 crore, which the company would meet from its Rs 4,500 crore reserve earmarked for captial expenditure programme. The government recently granted a category `A' national ISP licence to VSNL as compensation for breaking its monopoly on international voice traffic two years ahead of schedule. "In the first phase, eight cities including Kanpur Hyderabad, Bhopal, Indore and Bhubaneswar will be covered," he said adding the corporation had gateways in these cities. The corporation recently started operations in Jalandhar and Coimbatore and is expected to launch servicesin Ernakulam soon, he said. The ISP is setting up its gateway at Guwahati in the near future which would be used for satellite circuits and leased lines, he said."In the second phase, eight major cities and state capitals would be added to the ISP operation where VSNL would have to start from the scratch in terms of infrastructure as the service provider doesn't have either earth stations or gateways there,"Mr Kumar said. The ISP plans to target a subscriber base of 6.5 lakh from the present 5.4 lakh in the next two months. Mr Kumar said the corporation already has presence in at least 20 cities across the country but it was operating in the frame relay circuits, satellite circuits and providing leased lines to other isps. Earlier this month, vsnl announced a special scheme for its isp subscribers by which internet access in the night would be free of cost. "The whole exercise of expansion is likely to take 12 months, keeping in view the infrastructural bottlenecks," he said and added bandwidth should not be a problem for Internet connectivity. The hindrances for Internet penetration are lower PC density and high dial-up charges (at Rs 25 per hour), he said. Thecustomer break-up of VSNL's subscriber base, Mr Kumar said, is a balanced mixture of corporates and individual subscribers and the same applies to its dial-up and leased line connections. Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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