VSNL’s operational Net bandwidth reaches 1000 Mbps

MUMBAI: VSNL announced the commissioning of an additional stream of 155 Mbps (STM-1) from its Mumbai Gigabit Internet Exchange, here on Wednesday. The new capacity of 155 Mbps has been commissioned from India to USA via the Sea-Me-We3 Optical Fiber System. VSNL had earlier a commissioned capacity of 860 Mbps and the new capacity commissioned takes the total connectivity capacity to India to 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps).

VSNL has also seen a healthy growth in demand for the leased Internet circuits and connectivity by ISPs. VSNL’s multi-locational gigabit enabled Internet exchange now connects 320 links for various ISPs, 1,050 leased lines and customers across 13 locations in India.

This is in addition to the dial-up users of VSNL and other ISPs, which are estimated to total of around three million. VSNL alone has 5.8 lakh Internet users operating off its nine Internet nodes in the country. VSNL's achievement of increasing its Internet bandwidth to 1000 Mbps comes close on the heels of the launch of Operation Bandwidth that was launched in the third quarter of 2000.

The operation bandwidth was launched with joint initiative of Nasscom, DoT, MTNL and BSNL with the aim of expediting the process of providing Internet connectivity to users in India. The Internet bandwidth, which was around 320 Mbps, has increased to 1,000 Mbps within a year.

VSNL has also commissioned a major domestic Internet backbone comprising of STM-1 (155 Mbps links) which connects its major Internet exchange points and fiber optic interconnect centers. These high-speed links obtained on optical fibers across India connect major Internet exchange points such as Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Ernakulam, Mumbai-Bangalore and other cities.

VSNL’s also plans to commission additional Internet capacities to the US West Coast by using trans-pacific route via Asia/Far-East that will provide additional diversity and better linkages to the Asia-Pacific region.