Submarine link will open global gates for tourism
& community development of the people of A&N Islands: Union Minister
Submarine cable project will be a boost to Islands’
economy and yield long term dividends for the people: Lt. Governor
Chennai, Jan 9: The undersea Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laying
work, connecting Chennai to Port Blair and seven Islands has begun with its
inauguration by the Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and
Information Technology and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad in the
presence of Lt. Governor, A&N Islands and Vice- Chairman, Islands
Development Agency, Admiral DK Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM (Retd.) today at
a function held at Hotel Le Royal Meridien, # GST Road, Chennai. The inaugural
function was followed by flagging off ceremony in the cable laying ship ‘KT
Responder’ harboured at Chennai Port.
During the function held at Hotel Le
Royal Meridien, Chennai, the Union
Minister of Communication, Electronics & IT stated that the CANI Project is
a milestone in the history of India. A&N Islands is a proud part of India
and has blossomed into a truly Mini India with people from all parts of India
living cordially and peacefully. Development of Islands through digital tool is
a model to emulate, he said. This Govt. reaches the last person through the
last mile connectivity which emphasizes and reinforces the faith in the Govt.
The challenge or dream of getting the world class medical facilities through
this digital initiative will now become the reality for the people of the
Islands. This Govt. spans over the sky (satellite) to under the sea (submarine
cable). Presently, the communication to A&N Islands is through satellite and
with the laying of submarine cable, it would be connected under water/sea with
parts of sea depth more than 3 Kms. Traffic handling capacity would increase
4000%. This is the first time such a gigantic exercise is taken up by GoI
through BSNL, the Minister said adding that GoI has also approved the submarine
cable project for connecting Lakshadweep with Cochin at a cost of Rs.1200
Crores.
The
Minister highlighted the ‘Digital India’ Vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister
of India which would bring power through Technology & Communication to each
and every citizen of India at a low/affordable cost. He emphasized on the
Hon’ble PM’s vision statement ‘India’s Talent + Information Technology =
India’s Tomorrow’ will become closer to reality.
The
Minister further stated that BSNL should complete this Project of national
importance well within timeline and serve A&N Islands. These Islands have
enormous potential to become the most favourable and attractive destination for
the tourists. The MoC & IT stated
that the SMC would enable Aadhaar based digital transaction in A&N Islands.
Further, he stated that GoI plans to introduce Financial Inclusion through Post
Offices which will witness banks reach every home. Digital economy is expected
to contribute to 1 Trillion dollars. He stated that he would be personally very
happy to see the people of Andaman & Nicobar Islands strengthen their
emotional connect more through this digital connect. This submarine link will
open the global gates for tourism and community development of the people of
A&N Islands.
Addressing
the gathering, the Lieutenant Governor, A&N Islands said that it is a
privilege and an honour to be a part of this event and to witness the
commencement of the laying of Chennai-A&N Islands Submarine Optical Fibre
Cable. The submarine cable project would multiply the speed and reliability of
data and voice telephone facilities manifold in the Islands, resulting in a
boost to its economy and life standards. He said, it will greatly improve the
services, governance delivery and skill development, besides helping the
defence forces immensely. He said, the project would yield long-term dividends
for the public.
The Lt. Governor
said though, the internet bandwidth has increased almost three-fold in last two
years from 1.233 Gbps (December 2017) to 3.548 Gbps (at present), it has only
provided some relief to domestic segment. With completion of the
transformational Submarine OFC Project connecting Chennai to Port Blair and
seven other Islands with optical fiber link by June 2020, the bandwidth
augmentation then will be almost 60 times of the present bandwidth and will
indeed give a boost to the economic activity.
The Lt. Governor
said that new devices/innovations have given us more ways to harness the power
of connectivity and functionality than we could have imagined and ICTs and
digital e-skills are proving engines of inclusion, economic growth and
development. Towards this end, the increased bandwidth coupled with projects
being implemented by Department of Telecommunications such as BharatNet and BTS
covering all uncovered villages, will ensure availability of the Government
services to last mile and guarantee service delivery within the stipulated
time. He said, the A & N Administration, besides making substantial
progress in implementing various core projects for e-governance, has also drawn
plans to use robust telecom connectivity for tele-education, tele-medicine,
etc., apart from improving the facilities for tourists at important tourist
destinations.
The Lt. Governor
further stated that the Tourism and Hospitality industry is a major segment of
economy in the A&N Islands, which is blessed with over 92% Green cover.
However, tourism alone cannot be sufficient to realize the full economic,
strategic and HR potential of these Islands. We are therefore considering
select non-polluting niche hi-tech industries such as R&D driven Silicon
Carbide Chip Fabrication and IT/Telecom enabled enterprises. He disclosed that preliminary
discussion with Industry players including NASSCOM was held and some have shown
interest to establish IT firms once redundant connectivity from Andamans with
Mainland is established, so that in the event of cable cut, the connectivity
with rest of the country and overseas is not disturbed. Once implemented, these
transformational projects will further accelerate the economic growth and
provide greater employment opportunities.
The Lt.
Governor thanked the BSNL for their
support and urged them to closely associate/ monitor technical aspects of the
work being executed at all the nodes, and also ensure that there is no lag
between completion of the project and last mile connectivity with the end users
of the bandwidth.
The Lt. Governor
also thanked the Government of Tamil Nadu for supporting A & N
Administration in not only this endeavour, but also across various sectors to
the benefits of residents of the Islands. The Lt. Governor also thanked
Ministry of Communications for their continued support to the A&N
Administration in overcoming the geographically imposed challenges of
remoteness and connectivity and propelling New Andamans onwards for realisation
of the New India vision.
The
submarine cables will be initially laid from Chennai to Port Blair, covering a
distance of 1,461 kilometres. Afterwards it will be extended to Rangat, Long
Island, Swaraj Dweep, Hut Bay, Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay in the
Union Territory. The works are expected to be completed by June this year. The
cables are of four-fibre pairs, with the capacity to transfer 6.4 tera-bytes of
data per second by each fibre-pair. At the initial stage of commissioning of
the project itself, the Islands can get a data speed of 400-gigabytes per
second.
Earlier,
welcoming the gathering, the CMD, BSNL, Shri Pravin Kumar Purwar stated that
the CANI SMCP will provide high speed connectivity to A&N Islands with
speed upto 100 times more than the present speed. BSNL is geared up to finish
the CANI- SMC Project well within the timeframe. With all help extended from
A&N Administration, BSNL has build up the Cable Landing Stations and Beach
Man Holes in Chennai and in all the eight Islands of A&N Islands being
connected with the submarine cable. Equipment testing has been conducted
successfully at Port Blair and Chennai. At Swaraj Dweep, Rangat, Long Island,
Hutbay, Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay work is in advanced stage and is
scheduled to be completed well within timeline as set by GoI. He further stated
that BSNL Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) are the project implementation agency
(including operations for 5 years), nominated by DoT/USOF. The turnkey contract
has been awarded to M/s NEC Technologies India Ltd. The CANI-SMC project is being constructed at
a total cost of around Rs. 1200 crores, funded by USoF, Govt. of India. The
project will play a significant role in bridging the digital divide and for
spreading the various e-governance programmes in the Emerald Islands. CMD, BSNL highly
appreciated and thanked the Govt. of India for approving such a mega project
for A&N Islands and nominating BSNL as the implementing Agency. He stated
that the CANI-SMC Project once completed will enormously boost the
socio-economic development in the Islands along with enhanced security. The
Islanders’ dream to witness/handle internet/data speed at par with that of
Mainland India is going to be fulfilled shortly. A&N Islands will see an
overall improvement of the entire spectrum of telecom services in the A & N
Islands and it will make the entire Union territory of A & N Islands as a
smart territory.
The
Director (Enterprise), Shri. B.L. Varshney
proposed the vote of thanks.
Salient features:
- The total link distance is 2250
Kms, with Chennai to Port Blair as 1450 Kms, whereas other 7 segments, its
800 Kms.
- The total cost of the Project is
Rs.1224 Cr (CAPEX Res. 948 Cr. Being funded by USOF + OPEX Rs.276 Cr. To
be funded by A&N UT Administration under viability gap funding
principle).
- The Cable System will be
maintained by BSNL
- The bandwidth created under this
project will be available to all Telecom Service providers to extend their
telecom services to the A&N Islands.
- The submarine cable will also meet
the strategic communication requirement of country’s defence forces.
- We have constructed 8 new green
field building for housing Cable Landing Stations (CLS) in a record time.
- All equipments in Chennai and Port
Blair are installed and at other places work is in advance stage.
- The ship ‘STRAIDER’ reached in Chennai in November, 2019 for pre
layingactivities and the work has been completed between Chennai and
A&N Islands.
- The ship “CS Responder” has already reached at Chennai for commencing the
cable laying work at sea bed from 10th Jan 2020.
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