PM Modi inaugurates first ever optical fibre cable project for Andaman and Nicobar Islands

NEW DELHI, Aug 10, 2020, PTI. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the first ever undersea optical fibre cable project for Andaman and Nicobar Islands which will provide high speed broadband connections in the union territory at par with services in the mainland, The Hindu reported.

The Prime Minister had laid the foundation for 2,312-km Chennai-Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI) connecting submarine optical fibre cable project on December 30, 2018.

“From Chennai to Port Blair, Port Blair to Little Andaman and Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep, this service has started in large part of Andaman Nicobar from today,” Mr. Modi said after inaugurating the project.

BSNL offers 10 times faster broadband in the islands
State-run BSNL will start offering up to 10 times faster broadband speed at 100 mbps and up to 20 times more data download limit for its customers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands from Monday.

“Despite many challenges the project is completed in a scheduled timeline and without any cost overrun. Being a first of its kind project in India, BSNL ensured that the laying of submarine optical fibre cable is completed as per global specification to ensure quality,” BSNL chairman and managing director P K Purwar said.

“For BSNL wire line segment, copper broadband customers are now provided with higher speeds which is up to 10Mbps and up to 15 times more data download ranging from 30 GB to 750 GB in a month on its existing plans,” the statement said.

The data speed restriction after the download limit, will also be enhanced from 512 kbps to up to 2 Mbps in various plans, it added.