Power Grid to invest Rs 5,000 in telecom

JUNE 12: The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) will invest around Rs 5,000 crore in the next three to four years to diversif...

JUNE 12: The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) will invest around Rs 5,000 crore in the next three to four years to diversify into the emerging telecom business by building a nationwide high capacity optical fibre backbone network of around 50,000 km.

Initially, PGCIL wil invest Rs 1,000 crore in the new telecom venture to set up a fibre-optic network of 14,000 km, corporation chairman cum managing director R P Singh told mediapersons today.

Singh said the corporation was looking for a technical partner with sound financial background. “We are starting up with Rs 1,000 crore and the rest Rs 4,000 crore will come after the joint venture is finalised,” he added.

Among those who have responded to “expression of interest” are Enron, National Grid Company, BSES, Reliance, BPL, Singapore Telecom, L&T, Tatas as well as the state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

When asked about finalisation of the jont venture, Singh said within a month’s time they will short-list those who have sent “expression of interest” and the corporation will ask for “request for proposal”. “It will take around six months to finalise the joint venture after assessing the bids,” he added.

The PGCIL CMD said initially the corporation would establish telecommunication links between New Delhi, Chandigarh, Simla, Jaipur, Jallandhar and other northern cities. By 2003, more than 7,000 km would be laid and as many as 23 major cities would be connected. By 2005, the network will expand to more than 56 cities, corporation sources said.

He said a real-time voice and data communication will be provided through this “totally secured network”. Power Grid officials had held talks with home and defence ministry officials in this connection.

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Already 2,000 km of fibre optic cable has been laid by Power Grid. “This will help the company as well as the country capitalise on the advantages of convergence of power and telecom business,” Union Minister of state for power Jaywantiben Mehta said while announcing the PGCIL’s new venture.

She said widespread power network with technological convergence provides excellent telecommunication connectivity to the metros and major cities of the country by developing a high quality, high bandwidth optical fibre network. Voice, data and video will be of high quality and will be better than that of V-Sat facilities, she added.