BSNL earmarks Rs 2,000cr broadband spend

India's largest telecom operator BSNL will invest about Rs 2,000 crore to augment its broadband infrastructure in urban and rural areas.

"We will invest Rs 1200-1500 crore for expanding our broadband network in urban areas while about Rs 500 crore would be invested in rural areas," A K Sinha, CMD of BSNL, said here.

He also announced the company would offer broadband connectivity at a speed of upto 2 mbps at the existing tariff of Rs 250 per month.

With this offering, BSNL will upgrade all its 8.2 lakh broadband users with upto 2 mbps broadband speed from the current 256 kbps.

The PSU also expects to add 5 million port capacity to the existing network of 1 million ports, he said.

In the rural areas, where broadband connection over copper lines is not possible, the state-owned telecom major will use Wimax technology to offer broadband services.

He said the company will add 1000 Wimax towers by the middle of next year, which will cover 20,000-30,000 villages. However, BSNL is yet to place its Wimax equipment order.