GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal underscored the need for Optical Fibre Cable connectivity through neighbouring Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar.
Sonowal held a meeting with senior officers of Department of Telecommunication and Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) in New Delhi today and asked the organisations to upgrade and amplify the bandwidth in Assam to bring the internet facility at par with major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. “If this can be done the far-flung areas of Assam can be brought under the ambit of internet connectivity,” he opined.
He urged the Department of Telecommunication to raise the number of mobile towers for seamless connectivity in the far-flung areas of the State.
Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunication N. Sivasailam said of the total 2589 Gaon Panchayats in Assam, 1348 Gaon Panchayats were connected with optical fibre covering 4,162 km. He also sought the Chief Minister’s intervention to provide uninterrupted power supply to the Gaon Panchayats for seamless internet connectivity. Under the BharatNet, 22 districts have been covered so far. Besides Sivasailam, Director (PM) BBNL B.K. Mittal and CGM (PM), BBNL Anil Kumar Gupta were also present at the meeting.