Indian telecom service provider BSNL is planning to invest more than Rs 1,200 crore in Uttar Pradesh West circle during 2015-16.

BSNL will be spending nearly Rs 200 crore for upgrading and expanding mobile network.

The state-run telecom company will set up 795 2G BTS sites and 596 3G BTS sites in all secondary switching areas (SSAs) of UP (W) circle to increase the coverage of BSNL mobile services. The Capex (capital spending) will help in providing improved 3G services to existing BSNL subscribers as well as in 152 new cities / towns.

Minister of Communications & IT Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said nearly Rs 982 crore will be invested in the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) under Phase-I covering 14,474 village panchayats spread over 227 blocks covering more than 30,000 villages of UP (W) Circle.

BSNL is also replacing 30 years old switching technology with latest Next Generation Network (NGN) technology. In initial phase more than 50,000 such telephone lines are allotted to UP (W) circle covering Meerut, Ghaziabad and Noida areas.

Meanwhile, Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated Wi-Fi hotspot zone created by BSNL at Taj Mahal at Agra on 16 June 2015. With the optical fiber backbone using GPON technology, BSNL can provide backhaul broadband bandwidth up to 100 Mbps through its MPLS network.

BSNL will be providing free Wi-Fi services, for 30 minutes per 24 hrs (three times in a month) which visitors can utilize in multiple sessions. After free usage limit of 30 minutes is exhausted, a customer needs to spend Rs 20, Rs 30, Rs 50 and Rs 70 for validity of 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 120 minutes and one day respectively.

BSNL will be expanding the Wi-Fi coverage to other tourist and religious locations like Khajuraho, Jagannath Puri etc by March 2016.

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