The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Chennai Telephones plans 1000 BTS towers for 2G, 3G services

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Monday, Oct 13, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chennai Telephones plans 1000 BTS towers for 2G, 3G services

Dinesh Varma

Land acquisition procedures for about 300 new BTS sites progressing

It will place orders for 3G equipment on Friday
A clutch of 50 towers will be exclusively dedicated for improving in-building coverage

CHENNAI: BSNL Chennai Telephones will place orders for 3G equipment on Friday.

The equipment include 3G-supporting Base Transceiver Stations, Mobile Station Equipment, antennae and feeder cables. The Indian Telephone Industries has been mandated to supply the equipment.

Chennai Telephones will launch 3G with an initial base of 1.5 lakh lines and hopes to scale it up exponentially as more mobile users subscribe to the high-speed features of voice, video-on-demand and wireless broadband on the mobile, Chennai Telephones told The Hindu.

The department plans to install a network of about 1,000 BTS towers for 2G and 3G services, of which about 25 per cent will be stand-alone towers supporting third generation telephony. A majority of 3G equipment to be purchased will be co-located with existing 2G towers. A clutch of 50 towers in the network will be exclusively dedicated for improving in-building coverage.

Land acquisition procedures relating to about 300 new BTS sites was progressing and was expected to be available with the department by November, an official said.

The BSNL’s national plan is to launch 3G services first in the East and North sectors in December and follow it up with the South and West regions. Union Communications Minister A. Raja had recently indicated at a press conference here that 3G services were slated for launch in the country in December and in Chennai on Pongal Day. BSNL, along with MTNL, are being allocated 3G spectrum ahead of private players for whom an auction will be held soon. According to a BSNL official, Chennai’s 3G network will have a dedicated signal pathway involving a set of major exchanges. Separate media gateways for 3G are likely to be positioned at major telephone exchanges such as Haddows Road, Mambalam, Harbour, Anna Road and Flower Bazaar.

BSNL will initially rollout 3G services for subscribers in Chennai and Chengalpattu. The GSM expansion targets in 3G and 2G services for the next financial year is 6.1 lakh lines.

With the line expansion and installation of additional towers, BSNL expects to narrow down the distance between any two transmission towers to 300 metres in Chennai and 3 kms in rural areas of Tamil Nadu.

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