BSNL to Borrow Rs 4,500 crore

BSNL has plans to borrow Rs 4,500 crore in FY 2001-02 said DPS Seth, CMD,
BSNL. The timing of borrowing has not been fixed. The money will be for
upgradation and expansion of the network. The company plans to provide bandwidth
on demand to district headquarters with the completion of Sanchar Sagar Project.
The Phase I of the project is complete and the Phase II would be complete by
December 2001. The project will result in laying of 36,000 km of OFC and provide
coverage to 150 additional cities, and provide a domestic bandwidth of 10 Gbps.
The Phase I of Sanchar Sagar which covers thirty-three cities, including major
state capitals, has deployed 17,000 km of OFC with a domestic bandwidth of 10
Gbps. On the DWDM front, the company plans to deploy 3,000 rkm of OFC in two
places. One at Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur route and the other connecting Hyderabad,
Bangalore, Chennai, and Vijaywada.