Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and dedicate to the nation the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair on 10 August 2020.
The submarine cable will also connect Port Blair to Swaraj Dweep (Havelock), Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island, and Rangat. The connectivity will enable delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecom services to Andaman & Nicobar Islands, on a par with other parts of India.
The foundation stone for the project was laid by the Prime Minister on 30 December 2018 at Port Blair. The project involves undersea cable of nearly 2,300 km length between Chennai-Port Blair and Port Blair and seven Islands.
Once inaugurated, the submarine OFC link will deliver bandwidth of two x 200 gbps between Chennai and Port Blair, and two x 100 gbps between Port Blair and other islands.
The project will boost e-governance, tourism and Information Technology. 4G mobile services, which were constrained due to limited backhaul, bandwidth provided via satellite will also see a major improvement.
Enhanced telecom and broadband connectivity will improve tourism and employment generation in the islands, give an impetus to the economy and raise standards of living. Also, better connectivity will also facilitate delivery of e-Governance services such as telemedicine and tele-education.
Small enterprises will benefit from opportunities in e-commerce, while educational institutions will utilise the enhanced availability of bandwidth for e-learning and knowledge sharing. Also, Business Process Outsourcing services and other medium and large enterprises will benefit of better connectivity.
The project is funded by the government of India through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) executed this project while Telecommunications Consultants India (TCIL) are the technical consultants. Submarine OFC cable has been laid at a cost of about Rs 1,224 crore and the project has been completed in time.