State-owned incumbent BSNL has received a US$522m grant from the Indian government to continue developing WiMax in rural areas, according to reports.
The news broke a month after BSNL complained to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that it could…
State-owned incumbent BSNL has received a US$522m grant from the Indian government to continue developing WiMax in rural areas, according to reports.
The news broke a month after BSNL complained to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that it could not continue to roll out rural internet services on a loss-making/cost-neutral basis unless it received government support.
It reportedly said that if it did not receive the funding, it would have to reduce the amount of WiMax base stations from over 7,800 to less than 2,000.
The Economic Times reported that the Telecommunications Ministry had sent a communication to BSNL on November 16, asking them to rework its estimates for the WiMax initiative and spread the project’s costs over a 20 year period.
Around 1,000 WiMax towers are planned as part of the first phase of the BSNL project.
BSNL could not be reached for comment.
