VSNL gets reprieve from Bombay HC for cellular bid
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today ruled in favour of the country’s largest international telephony operator, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) it the latter’s writ petition filed against the government challenging its decision to prevent VSNL from bidding for the fourth operator licence.

With this decision the process of selecting fourth operators for cellular circles, which was to be finalised on July 19 has received a setback, as the court’s decision has prevented the government from taking any further decision. Cellular operators are expected to oppose the interim order of the Bombay High Court and may file a petition before the court on Wednesday.

The government had barred VSNL from taking part in the bidding process on the grounds that it did not want two government-owned companies to be competing against each other in the same cellular circle.

VSNL and its employee unions have been demanding that VSNL be allowed to participate in cellular operations as a compensation to its monopoly over international long distance telephony is being taken away two years ahead of schedule. The revenue loss due to this, they claim, would impact the financial health of the organisation severely.
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Phase I of national internet backbone completed
Mumbai: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has announced that it is on track with its plan for the national internet backbone, with Phase I, estimated at Rs. 34 crore, of the project being completed.

The internet backbone is the precursor to the grand plans of BSNL to provide iternet services. This backbone will also provide the basic infrastructure for private internet service providers and take them to their own international gateways or VSNL’s gateway.

The backbone, although will begin with a capacity of 8 Mbps, is designed to have a maximum capacity of 155 Mbps. With all secondary switching areas of BSNL being connected to the backbone, it will have six nodes that will be connected to the international gateway at speeds of 34 Mbps.

The backbone is a three-tier structure, with the first tier consisting of 14 stations that have high capacity digital trunks with the highest level of redundancy. The second tier will have 8 stations and the third tier will have 406 stations with lesser access capacities.

Phase-II would involve increasing the capacity of the current infrastructure and introducing additional security and network management features.
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