Sterlite wins Rs.372 crore BSNL contract

PUNE, INDIA:Sterlite Technologies Limited, a provider in transmission solutions, today announced that it has won a contract from BSNL, valued at Rs 372 crore (US$ 77 million), for enabling a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Network based on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology.

Sterlite was awarded a major share of the total outlay of project, amongst competition from global players, said a press release.

The company said it has streamlined its efforts to ensure that the contract is executed within FY10. BSNL plans to implement similar FTTH networks at 25 cities across India by 2012, which would impact two million subscribers.

This, according to the state-owned telecom provider, would provide subscribers access to never-experienced bandwidth and speeds (in excess of 100 Mb/s) as well as multitude of applications ranging from utility applications such as High-Definition Video Conferencing or entertainment applications as High-Speed Gaming.

 The current phase of the FTTH network would be capable of providing high-speed Internet, IPTV solutions, VoIP, and other value-added services to about 500,000 subscribers.

BSNL said it would be the first telecom player in the country to deploy commercial scale FTTH network. At the recent OFC/NFOEC 2009 in San Diego, California, Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director of BSNL, had indicated that up to 5 per cent of all Indian households could have FTTH by 2011 and IPTV would be one of the key drivers for uptake of FTTH.

“India is at the cross-roads in telecommunication technology, with networks being rolled out for 3G, Wimax, NGN (Next Generation Networks) and FTTH,” said Dr. Anand Agarwal, CEO and director, Sterlite Technologies.

“We believe FTTH will offer subscribers limitless possibilities by serving the requirements of bandwidth-hungry applications and this would revolutionize the way subscribers work, live and play.” He also praised BSNL’s efforts in putting India on the telecom map of the world.

“We are honored to be chosen as a partner for this project,” he said.