Airtel broadband, phone debut in Punjab

Bharti Enterprises launched its Airtel broadband and telephone services in Punjab yesterday. The group has made an investment of Rs 200 crore in hi-broadband solutions.

Airtel's broadband and telephone services were introduced in Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana. The company will take it to Amritsar next month. About 83 sites are already operational in the three cities.

Announcing the launch of the services in Punjab, Bharti Enterprises Chairman and Group Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said ,"With Punjab on the threshold of rapid progress, the identification of the public-private partnership as a major thrust area is a positive move and lays the foundation for exponential growth."

The company has laid more than 245 km of fibre optic cable and over 786 km of copper cable.

"The lustre of plain landline telephony can be brought back by providing services like braodband," said Mittal.

He added that a whopping 60 per cent of the company's customers in the state had subscribed to the DSL services.

Airtel is targeting 1 lakh connection in Punjab by next fiscal.