RailTel bets big on Tripura to widen network in North-East

The Indian Railways-owned RailTel Corporation is betting big on Tripura for growth of its North-East business. RailTel is a neutral telecom infrastructure company that builds optic fibre connectivity for use of telcos and others.

The company is the project contractor of Bharat Broadband Network (BBNL) for building over 8,400-km network of 10 gbps bandwidth, connecting 2,858 gram panchyats in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in the first phase of National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project.

BSNL is the contractor for the largest North Eastern State of Assam.

With 510 (50 per cent) out of 1,021 panchayats already connected and 100 more are ready to be connected, Tripura is leading the race in terns of project implementation. In comparison, merely 10 per cent of panchayats in Meghalaya and 20 per cent in Nagaland are connected so far.

Sources say the reason for this lies in the socio political stability of Tripura and a progressive State government that puts maximum priority in infrastructure building. The State is nationally one of the top performers in rural electrification and roads.

In fact, except the pitiable condition of the lone national highway (44), the road condition in the State is the best in the entire North-East where monsoon lasts for a good six months of the year.

RailTel is using this to its advantage. While cable non-availability of right of way delaying network building in rest of the North-East, Tripura gave them free access to lay cables along the road network.

Beyond the scope of NOFN project, it has already built its own State-wide network of 2.5 gbps (expandable up to 10 gbps) connectivity connecting all districts, sub-divisional and block headquarters with the State capital of Agartala.

The ₹20-crore project was financed through universal social obligatory (USO) fund. Similar projects in other north-eastern States are far from completion.

Tripura has a similar 2 mbps connectivity through a previously implemented SAWN (State Wide Area Network) project of the Centre. But, according to an agreement between the State and RailTel, data transfer through the new network will be 88 per cent cheaper than the TRAI approved tariff. Another 100 mbps RailTel network between Agartala and South Tripura district is already operational. The district already has 727-MW gas-based OTPC power station and, may emerge as a commercial and industrial district once connected to Chittagong port by an upcoming road network.

To expand the scope of its north-eastern business, the company is laying two 400 gbps networks connecting Agartala and Jorhat (Assam) with Guwahati. National Informatics Centre (NIC) has already expressed interest lease rental of 10 gbps bandwidth between Agartala and Guwahati. The business may get a fresh twist, if BBNL denies responsibility of NOFN network in Tripura. The huge network with ₹40 crore already invested is grossly underutilised as neither the State nor the BBNL owning responsibility for marketing.

Sources say, given an opportunity, RailTel may throw its hat for owning this network to have a complete grip on the bandwidth business in Tripura that will have second Internet gateway through Bangladesh from this month. Currently, the entire region is dependent on a single and unstable network through Guwahati.