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Airtel Business, the B2B arm of telecom major Bharti Airtel, has inked a pact with Italy-based global operator Sparkle to enhance connectivity between Asia and Europe. As part of the partnership, Airtel will take capacity from Sparkle on the Blue-Raman Submarine Cable Systems, which will connect India to Italy. Under Sparkle's Blue-Raman cable system, Blue is deployed across Italy, France, Greece and Israel, while Raman connects Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and India. "With this additional capacity, Airtel will further diversify its global network across multiple international submarine cable systems to serve the growing demand for data services in India and neighbouring countries," a company statement said. The partnership will also work on the development of new business opportunities and projects in the Indian sub-continent, leveraging Airtel and Sparkle's respective cable infrastructures, the statement said. Airtel Business Global Business CEO Vani Venkatesh said the .
The budgetary allocation for the civil aviation ministry has been reduced to Rs 2,357.14 crore for the current fiscal ending next March, with regional air connectivity scheme set to get Rs 502 crore during the same period. In the revised budgetary allocation for 2023-24, the amount for the ministry was at Rs 2,922.12 crore. As per documents of the Union Budget 2024-25 that was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Tuesday, the ministry will get an allocation of Rs 2,357.14 crore. The money set aside for the regional air connectivity scheme has been cut to Rs 502 crore from Rs 850 crore in the revised budgetary allocation for 2023-24. The amount is for revival of 22 airports as well as commencement of 124 RCS routes and Viability Gap Funding for North East Connectivity. To improve connectivity in the northeast region, a new scheme has also been formulated for providing air connectivity and aviation infrastructure, as per a document. However, the Product
The Union Cabinet has approved a last-mile broadband connectivity plan for 6.4 lakh villages across the country under the BharatNet project with an outlay of Rs 1.39 lakh crore, according to sources. Around 1.94 lakh villages have been connected under the BharatNet project at present, and the balance is likely to be connected in two and a half years, they added. "The Cabinet in its meeting, held on Friday evening, has approved Rs 1,39,579 crore for providing last mile optical fibre-based connectivity to homes in all villages of the country," one of the sources said. The last-mile connectivity will be provided by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), an arm of state-owned BSNL, in partnership with village level entrepreneur (VLE). "The model to take fibre-to-the-home, with the help of a local entrepreneur, was finalised after the successful completion of a pilot project. The pilot project was initially carried out to connect villages in four districts and then expanded to 60,000
India can play a major role in taking forward the agenda of the 28-nation grouping, CICA, in boosting "Asian spirit" and expand cooperation in areas such as connectivity and economic cooperation, a top official of the bloc said on Tuesday. Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Ambassador Kairat Sarybay also said the grouping is focusing on enhancing Asia's role in addressing various global challenges. India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and South Korea are among the key members of the grouping. The CICA secretary general is currently on a visit to India. "The CICA is focusing on boosting cooperation in Asia in the areas of connectivity, food security and regional financial cooperation," he said during a media interaction. Replying to a question on the lingering border row between India and China, Sarybay said bilateral issues are not allow