ITI, a telecom equipment manufacturer in India, has signed a Rs 7,796 crore contract for the Phase IV of the Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON) project.
ASCON is Indian army’s telecom network spread across different terrains in the northern, north-eastern and western regions. The government-run ITI was part of the first three phases of ASCON project in India.

India has allocated $66.9 billion billion for Defense budget for fiscal 2020-21 and the major share will be for military.

ITI said the project covers an IP MPLS-based communication network with microwave radio, satellite and optical fibre network as media. It will handle communication across the country and subsequent maintenance for the next 10 years.

The project includes the installation, commissioning and maintenance of telecom equipment like IP/MPLS Routers, NMS, mobile nodes, test equipment and civil works for providing the complete infrastructure at various sites and rollout optical fibre network of about 11,000 km.

ITI said the scope of the project includes a warranty period of two years and maintenance support of the network for another eight years after the warranty.