BSNL to set up 111 base towers in Meghalaya, Mizoram & Tripura

Shillong: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Chief General Manager K K Saxena today said the company will set up 111 base towers in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura to improve customers service and its reach in these states.

"We are adding 111 new Base Transceiver Stations (Towers) in our NE-1 circle comprising Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura," Saxena who heads the circle told reporters here.

He said 56 of these towers will be in remote Meghalaya (existing 244), nine in Mizoram (existing 141) and 46 in Tripura (existing 386) which will add to 771 existing towers in these states as part of the phase 7 project costing Rs 50 crore.

According to the BSNL NE-1 circle chief, each of these towers is expected to cater to a population of 5000 people. The state-owned telecom operator, which caters to 14 per cent of the 1.24 crore customers in the region, saw a 1 per cent increase in its market share in the past one year, the official said.

Both NE-1 and NE-2 (comprising of Assam and rest of NE states) cater to about 17.4 lakh customers of which 8.7 lakh are in NE-1 circle, he said. Earlier, Saxena announced the launch of three new plans costing less than Rs 400 for prepaid services where customers can avail free calls and data costing less than Rs 2 per GB.