PM Modi to inaugurate submarine optical fibre cable connecting Chennai, Port Blair on Aug 10

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair on August 10, via video conferencing. The submarine cable will also connect Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep (Havelock), Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island, and Rangat.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair on August 10 through video conferencing.

According to a release by Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the submarine cable will also connect Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep (Havelock), Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island, and Rangat. This connectivity will enable the delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecom services to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on par with other parts of India, it said.

The foundation stone for this project was laid by the Prime Minister on December 30, 2018, at Port Blair.

"Once inaugurated, the submarine OFC link will deliver bandwidth of 2x 200 Gigabits per second (Gbps) between Chennai and Port Blair, and 2x 100 Gbps between Port Blair and the other islands," the release said.

It said that provision of reliable, robust, and high-speed telecom and broadband facilities in these Islands will be a landmark achievement from the viewpoint of consumers, as well as for strategic and governance reasons.

"4G mobile services, which were constrained due to limited backhaul bandwidth provided via satellite will also see a major improvement," it said.

The release said that enhanced telecom and broadband connectivity will boost tourism and employment generation in the islands, give an impetus to the economy and raise standards of living.

It said that better connectivity will also facilitate the delivery of e-governance services such as telemedicine and tele-education, small enterprises will benefit from opportunities in e-commerce, while educational institutions will utilize the enhanced availability of bandwidth for e-learning and knowledge sharing.

Business Process Outsourcing services and other medium and large enterprises will also be able to reap the benefits of better connectivity. The project is funded by the central government through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Ministry of Communications. The release said that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) executed this project while Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) is the technical consultant.

About 2,300 km of submarine OFC cable has been laid at a cost of about Rs 1,224 crore and the project has been completed in time, it said.

(ANI Report)