BSNL issues tender for setting up towers in naxal areas
New Delhi: State-run BSNL has floated a notice inviting tender for setting up mobile towers in four states affected by naxal violence.
The notice calls for supply, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of 1,315 sites of 2G GSM network in left wing extremist areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal for five years, which is extendable by two years.
"We have floated the tender on August 14," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director R K Upadhyay told PTI.
The notice calls for supply, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of 1,315 sites of 2G GSM network in left wing extremist areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal for five years, which is extendable by two years.
"We have floated the tender on August 14," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director R K Upadhyay told PTI.
BSNL, USOF to sign pact for towers in naxal areas by month-end
New Delhi; State-run BSNL and the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) are likely to sign a MoU by the end of this month for setting up mobile towers in states affected by naxal violence.
"We will try to sign the MoU (with BSNL) by the end of this month," USOF Administrator N Ravi Shankar said.
The USOF was created under the National Telecom Policy, 1999, for providing access of telecom services to people in rural areas at affordable prices.
BSNL has already floated a notice inviting tender for setting up 1,315 sites of 2G GSM network in left-wing extremist areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal for five years, which is extendable by two years.
The towers, which have been a long-pending demand of the Home Ministry, will strengthen the telecom network resulting in increased penetration in LWE affected areas and other areas facing security challenges.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the Department of Telecommunications to get the project completed by BSNL in a year and said that in the first phase towers should be installed in proximity with security force establishments.
The Cabinet in June had cleared the three-year old proposal to set up mobile towers at a cost of around Rs 3,046 crore in nine states, in the wake of a naxal attack that led to killing of 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, in Chattisgarh in May this year.
BSNL was mandated to set up the towers, the cost of which would be borne by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which is administered by the DoT.
"We will try to sign the MoU (with BSNL) by the end of this month," USOF Administrator N Ravi Shankar said.
The USOF was created under the National Telecom Policy, 1999, for providing access of telecom services to people in rural areas at affordable prices.
BSNL has already floated a notice inviting tender for setting up 1,315 sites of 2G GSM network in left-wing extremist areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal for five years, which is extendable by two years.
The towers, which have been a long-pending demand of the Home Ministry, will strengthen the telecom network resulting in increased penetration in LWE affected areas and other areas facing security challenges.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the Department of Telecommunications to get the project completed by BSNL in a year and said that in the first phase towers should be installed in proximity with security force establishments.
The Cabinet in June had cleared the three-year old proposal to set up mobile towers at a cost of around Rs 3,046 crore in nine states, in the wake of a naxal attack that led to killing of 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, in Chattisgarh in May this year.
BSNL was mandated to set up the towers, the cost of which would be borne by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which is administered by the DoT.
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