Submarine cable to link India and Sri Lanka

Chennai, Oct. 16 (PTI): BSNL and Sri Lanka Telecom had plans to lay an India-Sri Lanka submarine cable to meet the growing demand for telecommunications, Dayanidhi Maran, the Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, said here today.

"BSNL and Sri Lanka Telecom have planned a submarine cable connecting Tiruchendur in the southern part of Tamil Nadu to Colombo in Sri Lanka, to provide all types of telecom services," he said after commissioning the BSNL's International Long Distance services with Sri Lanka.

The cable would have a length of around 300 km and offer much more bandwith in terms of connectivity. The cable link would also make possible ILD services to other countries, BSNL officials said here.

The total investment in the project, estimated to be Rs 72-80 crores, will be shared by BSNL and SLT. It is expected to be completed by September or October 2005, officials said.

Earlier, Dayanidhi Maran said the direct link with Sri Lanka would act as a vital communication link between India, Sri Lanka and other SAARC countries.

With a subscriber base of 85 million lines, the country was adding two million lines per month, the Minister said and added that he was optimistic of the figure reaching 200 million lines by the year 2007.

He also said that India was targeting nine million broadband subscribers and 80 million internet subscribers by 2007, using the technologies from ADSL to Wi-fi and Wi-max.