The CANI project is said to stimulate e-governance, tourism and strengthen India's strategic maritime security and BSNL renews mobile, broadband services officially.
Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced the launch of submarine fiber optic cable (OFC) connectivity between Chennai and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (CANI project).
The 2,300km high-speed undersea cable allows telecom operators to offer enhanced mobile and broadband services to Andaman and Nicobar residents. Additionally, the CANI project is said to stimulate e-governance, tourism and strengthen India's strategic maritime security.
PM launches OFC connectivity between the mainland and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Indian prime minister said that the service had started in "most of the islands" from Chennai to Port Blair. Additionally, OFC connectivity is also said to be active between Port Blair and Little Andaman and from Port Blair to Swaraj Island.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) noted that OFC will provide 2x 200 Gbps between Chennai and Port Blair along with 2 × 100 Gbps between Port Blair and other islands.
Modi said the project has overcome several challenges, including high waves, storms and monsoons, along with difficult times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prime Minister also said that "providing better and cheaper connectivity" to Andaman and Nicobar residents "is the responsibility of the country."
"Providing reliable, robust, high-speed telecommunications related broadband benefits on these islands will be a historic achievement from a consumer perspective as well as for strategic and governmental reasons," a PMO statement said. "Due to the limited backhaul bandwidth provided by the satellite of 4G mobile services, will also see a significant improvement."
Modi said the OFC will help Andaman and Nicobar residents receive the benefits of digital India, including improvements in online education, tele-medicine, banking, online commerce and tourism promotion.
BSNL to improve connectivity in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) said that, its users will receive "advanced data services" following the inauguration of OFC connectivity between Chennai and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
"High speed Unlimited Internet benefit and a increase in multiple-data download volume for all its fixed and mobile customers on the islands," BSNL said in a statement.
The state-owned telecommunications India BSNL said its broadband ADSL users will now be offered faster speeds of up to 10 Mbps, while data limits will be improved up to 15 times.
BSNL said its ADSL broadband users will receive data limits in the range of 30GB to 750GB per month on their existing plans. The operator also said that FUP speeds after the allocated data is exhausted will also be improved from 512 kbps up to 2 Mbps on some plans.
Similarly, Public telecommunications BSNL said that Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) users will be offered speeds of up to 100 Mbps and up to 15 times the data volume in their plans. BSNL is said to have improved the data limits in its FTTH plans in the range from 60GB to 1500GB.
Additionally, BSNL FTTH plan users will be offered higher speeds after exhaustion of data allocation from 512kbps up to 4Mbps on certain plans.
Basically, the operator said that ADSL and FTTH users will be offered improved speeds and higher data limits at existing price points and that BSNL will not increase the monthly fee.
Furthermore, BSNL said that its mobile users will also be offered improved data limits in the range of two to 20 times on all existing plans. The operator said the existing voice and SMS minutes in its plans will remain the same despite increasing data limits.
BSNL also said that "10 new customer-friendly plans" will also be introduced in Andaman and Nicobar with a validity of between seven days and one year. The 10 new plans are said to offer "a high volume of data" to residents of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It should be noted that BSNL had plans to renew its broadband, FTTH and mobile plans in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on July 1st. However, the operator delayed the renewal of its plans linked to the CANI project until August.
