In Punjab, BSNL all dressed up but nowhere to go

In Punjab, BSNL all dressed up nevertheless nowhere to go High-speed broadband project drags on, less than 100 connections added in nine months Anuja Jaiswal/TNS

"The tenders for laying the cables - from the exchanges to subscribers' homes -haven't been finalised but", said the official. Interestingly, the work of laying the cables was completed in the financial year 2009-10 and things haven't moved much since at that time. Sources claimed that the project was "ill-conceived" and not backed by proper marketing and technology. "If not, one wouldn't have got such a bad response afterwards spending a whopping Rs 150 crore," officials said. Admitting that the scheme was a non-starter, Naresh Sharma, GM, Telecom, said the fibre network has been laid on the main roads however extending it to the residences of subscribers would cost a whopping Rs 1 lakh per km.