TURA: The country’s main public sector telecom corporation – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) – finally launched its much awaited Fibre to the Home (FTTH) commercial broadband service under the brand name Bharat Fibre for the benefit thousands of customers in Tura and West Garo Hills on the BSNL premises near Childrens’ Park (DC Park) on Saturday.
West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh in the presence of Chief General Manager, BSNL NE-1 Telecom Circle, B Chandra Sekhar launched this state of the art telecom technology at the BSNL administrative building in Tura.
FTTH is an internet service which aims at providing high speed internet access through end to end optical fibre connectivity.
Speaking on the occasion, Ram Singh lauded the efforts of BSNL for launching the service in the region and said that connectivity is one of the basic necessities of the people especially in the present generation.
He said that nowadays people find other options to cope up with shortage of water, electricity, roads but cannot live without internet connectivity even for a short while.
Further, in view of the large number of internet service users in the region, he suggested that the speed of the service provided should be good according to the expectations of the customers.
“As far as the public sector is concerned, BSNL happens to be one of the important basic service sectors which provides reliable service whenever necessary.””But competing with the service of private companies is the main challenge for BSNL and for which better performance is necessary,” he said.
The Chief General Manager, BSNL NE-1 Telecom Circle, B Chandra Sehkar expressed his happiness for being able to launch the service which had been possible by partnering with M/S Kiran International which has plans to provide 1000 connections in the area.
“Apart from internet service, landline facility is also available,” he informed and said that the service can streamline video conference and other services as per the customers requirement.
Further, since most of the students need internet connectivity, the department would expand the service to other districts to fulfil the needs of the people and is committed to provide better service in the region.
E Swer, GMM (ETR), Shillong highlighted the responsibilities of the department and their efforts to provide good and uninterrupted connectivity and service to the people but lamented that since it runs on optical fibre which is highly sensitive there is every possibility for disruption whenever new roads, pipelines and cables are laid.
He also said that separate lines had been laid for different districts so as to decrease the disruption whenever repair works are done.
The General Manager of the Telecom Department (GMTD), Meghalaya, Shillong, P Sudhakar Rao informed that BSNL Meghalaya has already launched FTTH services in Shillong and Jowai and is planning to launch the services in Ampati, Khliehriat, Sohra and other districts.
He informed that the present mobile data network of BSNL in Tura has been upgraded to 4G by deploying the state of art 4G tower thereby enhancing the mobile data speed upto 30 Mbps and as such, all customers in Tura are requested to change their existing sim cards which will be free of cost.
Bharat Fibre FTTH services will come in two plans namely Plan 849 which will cost Rs 849 per month along with GST and Plan 1277 which will cost Rs 1277 per month.
Deputy General Manager, (HQ), Meghalaya, Shillong, S Daimary, Divisional Engineer, Tura, C Momin, Divisional Engineer (ETR), Tura, S R Nangare, Superintendent Engineer, MeECL, Tura, Balnang Sangma, officers and staff of BSNL were also present during the programme..
