MTNL laying intra-city fiber network for digital connect

NEW DELHI: State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is putting up an intra-city fiber network in Mumbai and Delhi to facilitate India’s digital vision of seamless coverage, a top official said.

MTNL, which operates in two metropolitans – Mumbai and Delhi has – has nearly 42-lakh mobile subscribers and more than 12-lakh wireline broadband consumers. It is aiming to create a robust fibre infrastructure that could also be used by other telcos as well.

“We are working on intra-city fibre connectivity in Mumbai and Delhi regions. The network will cost somewhere between Rs 6 to 7 lakhs per kilometer,” MTNL Chairman and Managing Director PK Purwar told ET, on the sidelines of an industry event.

The fiber network, he added would also serve as a ready infrastructure for service providers seeking to leverage it for their service offerings.

MTNL gets 30% of its revenue from data uptake onto its fixed line broadband services while it is significantly lower on its mobile network, constituting only 16% of the total revenue.

Purwar also said that the company is looking for a “financial package” from the telecom department, for surrendering 2.5 MHz of their CDMA frequencies in the 800 MHz band in two regions.

The telecom regulator had earlier recommended that state-run companies – BSNL and MTNL - should surrender their surplus airwaves so that a contiguous block of spectrum could be carved out.