Silchar telecom district has embarked on a scheme to ensure hassle-free mobile connectivity in the Barak Valley and the neighbouring North Cachar Hills district through a 110 KVA power line.
Power Grid Corporation has leased the line to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
The general manager of Silchar telecom district, Sri Ram, said yesterday that the facility became operational on Monday.
Neutral cables of the Power Grid between Silchar and Guwahati have been fitted with optical fibre cables. Since the neutral phase of the power line does not transmit electricity, BSNL is using it to transmit messages. This system will soon be extended to broadband Internet in this telecom district, comprising Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and North Cachar Hills.
Ram said such steps were taken with a view to eliminate periodic disruptions of the underground optical fibre cable network between Silchar and Shillong caused by the goons. Sometimes highway repair and expansion work by workers of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) lead to such disruptions.
He said to begin with, the facility of 4,000 media lines, used to transmit messages, would be extended to the mobile subscribers in this telecom district for facilitating a trouble-free mobile connectivity.
He said periodic disruptions in mobile and broadband internet services are bound to affect the BSNL as the telecom giant incurs a loss of Rs 1 crore a year.
Ram said a mobile switching system would be operative in Silchar town from August 15 for bringing all BSNL mobile phone subscribers under it. Now the districts are under the switching network monitored from Guwahati.
This telecom district boasts of 67,000 mobile subscribers since this facility was introduced for the first time two years back.
A string of 83 base towers have already linked mobile subscribers in this telecom district.