Building up better and faster connectivity in remote parts of India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has opened its 2312 Kms under sea Submarine Optical Fibre project from Chennai to Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI). The project was originally inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.
Once operational, BSNL’s CANI project would offer people living in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with high-speed internet connectivity and other associated services. According to the telco, the project would increase the data download speed and data volume of mobile internet in the area up to 20 times. Whereas, the wired broadband service and BSNL FFTH service would see a speed of up to 100 Mbps and up to 15 times increase in data volume.
The CANI project connects the mainland from Chennai by a submarine optical fibre optical cable to Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands). The 2312 Km undersea fibre optical cable has been laid by BSNL. It would deliver 2×200 Gbps bandwidth between the two locations. The project would also be able to deliver 2×100 Gbps between Port Blair and adjoining islands. The original cost of the project is around Rs 1224 crores, and the telco has completed the project without any cost overrun.
BSNL Mobile & BSNL Broadband new and updated plans
As BSNL gained more bandwidth through the new Optical Fibre infrastructure, the telco has announced new plans and updated existing plans with enhanced data volumes for both Mobile and wired broadband services in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Staring BSNL Mobile, the data download offered to BSNL prepaid and postpaid mobile customers are now increased from 2 to 20 times. Thus all existing mobile plan with data benefits would get enhanced data speed and volume while keeping the other benefits like free voice minutes and SMS benefits intact. The telco has also announced ten new mobile plans with high data benefits and validity ranging from 7 days to one year.
In BSNL Wired broadband (Copper broadband) the telco will now be able to provide higher data speeds of up to 10Mbps. While, data download volume would see an increase of up to 15 times, ranging from 30 GB to 750 GB in a month on all its existing broadband plans for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The best part however is that BSNL wired broadband customers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands would now get a post FUP download speed of 2 Mbps instead of the earlier 512 Kbps in various unlimited plans. Thus even if you have crossed your monthly data limit, you will still able to browse the internet at an enhanced speed of 2 Mbps.
Similarly, for BSNL FTTH (Optical Fibre), customers will now get higher data speed of up to 100 Mbps. Besides, data volume has been enhanced up to 15 times, ranging from 60GB to 1500 GB in a month on exiting FTTH plans. The post FUP internet speed has also been upgraded to 4 Mbps from earlier 512 Kbps in various FTTH plans.
The new and updated plans on both Mobile and wired broadband/FTTH will be available to all new and existing BSNL customers of Andaman and Nicobar Islands starting immediately.