This article was published on September 26, 2011

Optical fibre-based 100Mbps broadband connections to debut in India


Optical fibre-based 100Mbps broadband connections to debut in India

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the government-owned telecom and broadband provider in India, announced on Saturday that it would soon initiate a program that would see the rollout of optical fibre-based connections in Pune, Maharashtra with speeds of up to 100Mbps, according to a report by DNA.

BSNL principal general manager V.K. Mahendra announced in a press conference on Saturday that the company had completed the installation of its Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network in the city and successfully tested it out. He said that it was now looking to offer 1,000 of these connections to high-value customers in the city over the next three months.

Starting at ₹ 1,500 ($30) for a 2Mbps connection capped at 8GB of bandwidth per month and going up to ₹ 83,999 ($1,700) per month for a 100Mbps line with unmetered bandwidth, these Internet connections are definitely not for the mass market in the country. The company’s current plans start at ₹ 250 ($5) per month for 1GB of bandwidth at speeds of 2Mbps and max out at 24Mbps with a 250GB data cap at ₹ 6,999 ($140).

Although very expensive right now for the average consumer, the new FTTH connections will mark a giant step forward for Internet connectivity in India. For a country that has largely been stuck at speeds of 256Kbps due to the incorrigible pricing tactics of privately-held ISPs in the country, BSNL’s bringing of faster and more reliable broadband to India is a significant achievement. We can only assume that the prices for these connections will go down with time and help their spread among the Internet-using populace in the country.

[Image courtesy of marema / Shutterstock.com.]

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Published
Back to top