CHENNAI, INDIA: In an effort to increase the number of broadband connections in the country and also to increase the rural net connectivity, state-owned telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has decided to invest Rs. 1,600 crore in the next two years on broadband equipment, including Wi-Max and optical fibre.

BSNL chairman and managing director, Kuldeep Goyal told reports that the investment would help BSNL to increase its capacity of around 8 million broadband connections.

“We are working on a target to have around nine million broadband connections in the next two years,” he told reporters here.

Goyal said the government’s target is to have around 20 million broadband connections by 2010-end from the present 5 million.

He also said that out of the 30,000 exchanges that BSNL has in rural areas, 23,000 exchanges have been provided with equipment for rolling out broadband connectivity.

BSNL is also looking at wireless technology to rollout broadband in rural areas and has recently placed orders for 1,000 WiMax equipment.

The telecom player is also having advanced talks with the government of India for using Universal Service Obligation fund to rollout broadband services in rural areas, he added.