The first 4G mobile tower of the State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) in Karnataka installed in Shivamogga city was commissioned by Manoj Sinha, Union Minister of State for Communications and Railways, at a programme held at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan here on Saturday.

Mr. Sinha said that because of the dedicated efforts of its employees, BSNL has posted operational profits in the past three years. BSNL is upgrading its infrastructure and technology to extend quality service and has plans to install 534 more 4G mobile towers in Karnataka shortly, he added.

He said while there was a decline in the number of customers of private telecom companies after the entry of Reliance Jio into the market, there was a steady increase in the number of customers of BSNL.

On the progress achieved in providing high-speed Broadband to rural areas by laying optical fibre network under the BharatNet project, he said the network had been laid in 1.09 lakh gram panchayats by December 2017. The remaining 1.5 lakh GPs will be covered soon, he said, adding that access to Broadband services would bring about a comprehensive transformation in the social and economic life in rural areas, he said.

The Core System Integration (CSI) solution, an IT modernisation initiative, and the Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a New India(DARPAN) project for Karnataka circle of the Department of Posts was also rolled out by Mr. Sinha on the occasion. The DARPAN project aims at digitisation of rural post offices to upgrade the quality of services offered there. The CSI will bring all services of the Department of Posts, including mail handling, insurance, banking, retail operations, and administrative operations, on a single platform.

Senior officers of BSNL and the Department of Posts were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / March 24th, 2018