A.K. Sinha in Calcutta on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, June 14: After laying its first under-sea cable from India to Sri Lanka, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is all set to extend the connection to Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The new project will cost Rs 2,000 crore.

Millennium Telecom, a joint venture company in which BSNL has a 49 per cent stake and MTNL holds the remaining shares, will implement the project.

“The submarine cable laid between India and Sri Lanka at an investment of Rs 80 crore is BSNL’s first such project. This will be inaugurated at the end of this month or early next. Our partner in this project is Sri Lanka Telecom,” said R.L. Dubey, director-planning, BSNL board.

This cable would be used for a host of services, besides international long distance (ILD) connectivity. It would be subsequently extended to Singapore through Malaysia and Abu Dhabi possibly through Pakistan. Dubey said a consultant has been appointed by Millennium Telecom to work out the project viability. BSNL would also look at local partners in Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

GSM tender

BSNL will select the two lowest bidders ? ‘L1’ and ‘L2’ ? for the south, east and north zones by August-September for the Rs 21,000-crore contract for 45.5 million GSM lines, said A.K. Sinha, CMD of the company.

One-third of the 45.5 million lines is reserved for the eastern region. Of this, around 20 lakh lines will be laid in Calcutta and the same number in the state over the next three years. BSNL will roll out 3G network early next year.

Cable TV

The cable TV on broadband or IPTV would begin tentatively on August 15 in Pune as a pilot project. BSNL, however, is yet to find a partner in Calcutta. The company has also roped in local partners in Chennai and Bangalore and will ink a similar deal in Hyderabad next week.

New connections

BSNL will invest Rs 118 crore this fiscal to upgrade its network in Calcutta, up from Rs 110 crore in 2004-05. It plans to add 1 crore connections this year across segments.