The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has opened an undersea optic fiber link between Chennai and Andaman and Nicobar. The new fiber link is a critical infrastructure reaching the strategic archipelago. It is a 2312 KM long Submarine OFC connecting Port Blair, Little Andaman and Swaraj Island.
The cable connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI) project is expected to be a game-changer for the region and unlock the true potential of 4G and even 5G in future. It will deliver 2×200 Gbit/s speed in Port Blair and 2×100 Gbit/s on nearby islands. BSNL, Airtel and Vodafone Idea provide connectivity to the region.
The State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (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, the company said on Sunday.
BSNL completed the deployment at a cost of INR12.24 million (US$163.37 million) in two years. The project was financed by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) was the technical consultant.
“With the commissioning of the fiber link, Airtel has become the first mobile operator to launch ‘Ultra-Fast 4G’ services in Andaman and Nicobar. Department of Telecom will accelerate the deployment of USOF for building such infrastructure backbone to complement the efforts of telecom operators,” said Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel in a media release. Previously, Airtel provided Andaman & Nicobar with 3.2Gbps of bandwidth through a satellite uplink.
Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industry is reported to have started laying cable two years ago for Jio services but has not seen commercial operations yet.
The fiber optic cable has a designed capacity of 6.4 Tbps from Chennai to Port Blair and 1.6 Tbps from Port Blair to other islands. Total segments of the submarine cable are 8 with a total cable length of 2,245.96 km and total route length is 2199.66 km.