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Rajya Sabha
The Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, has informed the Rajya Sabha that the number of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) based mobile subscribers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has crossed the one crore mark and the number as on 31.7.2005 are 1,07,66,698.
The Minister further informed the House that BSNL is licensed to provide GSM based mobile service in 21 out of total 23 service areas in the country i.e. whole of India except Delhi and Mumbai Metro City Service areas where Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is, inter-alia, licensed to provide mobile services. BSNL is providing mobile services in all its 21 Licensed service areas having coverage in more than 4200 cities/towns including tourist, religious places and all other places of commercial importance. BSNL is also providing coverage along major National/State Highways and Railways Routes.
Dr. Ahmad further stated that BSNL is planning to introduce new technologies for broadband services which are as under:-
v Access Network: BSNL has deployed ADSL2plus (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) based equipment to provide broadband access with speed ranging from 256 Kbps and above to its fixed line customers. Presently, this is being used to provide 'Always On' High Speed Internet Access Services to its customers. In addition, other technologies such as WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) and WiMax (Wireless Metropolitan Access Networks) are also being deployed to provide wireless based broadband services.
v Core (Backbone) Network: BSNL has deployed state-of-the-art Multi Protocol Label Switching based IP infrastructure as part of its National Internet Backbone II (NIB-II) project with 71 nodes connected on high speed [from 135 Mbps to 2.5. Gbps] and redundant links.
The above information was given by Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, today in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to the question by Smt. S.G. Indira.
RM/AMA – 250805 Broadband USQ 3144
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