Sterlite Technologies Bags Rs 1,800 Crore Rural Broadband Network Project from Telangana

Hyderabad: STL (Sterlite Technologies Ltd), a data networks innovator, has bagged a Rs 1,800 crore project from Telangana Fiber Grid Corporation Ltd. (T-Fiber) to create a high speed rural broadband network.

Supporting the vision to establish a 'Digital Telangana', T-Fiber and STL will work together for enabling affordable and high-speed broadband connectivity to 6 million rural citizens in the state, an STL release said.

The State Government is taking big leaps to build and leverage the broadband infrastructure under BharatNet, which aims to provide broadband connectivity to all 250,000 gram panchayats in the country.

As a state-led program, Telangana has initiated T-Fiber to provide broadband connectivity up to the household level across the state by rolling-out optical fiber and network infrastructure.

TL was awarded a work order for about Rs 1,100 crore for Phase 1 of the project.

The total project value is worth about Rs 1,800 crore for which STL has received the letter of intent, it said.

This turnkey project entails designing and building an end-to-end rural broadband network across 11 districts, 3,000 gram panchayats of Telangana and managing the network for an additional seven years.

The project has a significant O&M (Operations and Maintenance) revenue stream, close to 30 per cent of the overall Project value, it said.

The scope includes rolling out end-to-end network connectivity by deploying 64,000 kms of OFC (Optical Fibre Cable) Network, as well as deploying IP MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), a routing technique and GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), a point to multi point access to create seamless network connectivity.

K S Rao, CEO, Network Software and Services, STL,said the uniqueness of the T-Fiber project is that it would connect every household across the rural part of the state through optical fiber and provide them high speed internet connectivity.

"Internet connectivity will enable economic growth and social well-being of rural citizens, thereby making this project a shining example for rural development.

STL is proud to be associated with T-Fiber, Rao said. Sujai Karampuri, Managing Director, T-Fiber & Director, ITE&C Department, said "This initiative will work as a digital revolution that will bridge the digital gap between urban and rural India.

With the T-Fiber project, we aim to provide an infrastructure for affordable and high-speed broadband connectivity and digital services across the state," the MD said.