BSNL transforming 32,000+ Indian Villages with Broadband Connectivity

Forget Bijli, Sadak Paani [Electricity, Roads, Water] – the basic infrastructure for living which you may not find in many Indian towns and villages but we have the power of Wireless communication and now Broadband 🙂 State owned, BSNL has taken an excellent decision to make the best use of its PAN India OFC and Copper network. Utilizing the Universal Service Obligation Fund, BSNL is in the process of setting up 28,000 rural broadband wired exchanges and 5,900 V-Sat linked exchanges. This is a significant move especially for Internet Application and Web Site developers as they can take into consideration the target audience.

What exactly is a Rural Exchange ?
I was surprised when they said they are going to establish an exchange in each village which will require big investments. I later spoke to Engineers at BSNL and found out that they will install a DSLAM in each of these 28,000 villages [rural exchanges] to connect to the nearest SDCA – Short Distance changing Area or SSA – Secondary Switching Area as feasible. I am not sure on how they are implementing Wireless broadband through V-Sat.

Discounted Tariffs:
BSNL is offering discounted tariffs for the rural folks – Rs 99 for 400 MB download and Rs 150 for 1 Gig download.

Maharashtra, U.P, A.P, Karnataka Big beneficiaries of rural wired broadband exchanges – Maharashtra has gotten approval for 3991 villages, followed by U.P 2700, Andhra 2,600 and Karnataka 2200.

The V-Sat linked exchanges are mostly allotted for East Indian States –  Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Uttranchal. I have the complete list state-wise, mail me if interested to know about the same.

If you have any applications on your mind that can transform or touch the lives of Rural Indians, you can touch base with BSNL or other Government agencies under the IT and Science & Technology ministry who are funding such projects.