RailTel optical fibre network by June

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd (RailTel) is poised to achieve the target of creating a 27,565-km-long countrywide optical fibre cable (OFC) network by June next year.

Of the targeted length, 10,000 km of OFCs will make up the high-capacity STM-16 network. RailTel will award tenders for this in the next few weeks.

"Two parties have been selected. Their security clearance is awaited," a senior rail official told Business Standard.

Till November, the corporation had laid 20,066 km of OFCs, out of which 16,500 km had been commissioned. By the middle of January 2004, 10,000 km of OFCs on the STM-4 network will have been commissioned.

This includes the network between the four metropolises and also links to important cities like Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Secunderabad and Jhansi.

By next year, RailTel will be a step closer to becoming a major bandwidth provider in the country.

RailTel earns most of its revenue from the lease of bandwidth to basic and cellular service providers. RailTel's clients include Bharti, Idea Cellular, Dishnet, Tata Tele, Escotel and Hutch.

"The only major telecom player which is not our client is Reliance. We are in talks with the company for the lease of bandwidth in the eastern region, Kolkata and beyond," the official said.

The earnings target from the lease of its OFC network to basic and cellular service providers in the current financial year is Rs 16 crore.

The corporation earned Rs 8.9 crore during April-November this year, 29.6 per cent of the projected earnings of Rs 30 crore for the entire financial year.

RailTel has leased out 70 of its total 600 microwave towers to clients like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Sify. This is expected to fetch it Rs 2.5 crore during the current financial year.

The company has also been leasing dark fibres to cable television operators on a revenue sharing basis. The revenue stream has two components "" a fixed component based on the length of the fibre leased and a variable component based on the number of subscribers served by the operator.