State run telecom operator BSNL has pledged a Rs 2000 crore investment for a modernization drive across India, while focusing on bettering its 3G service offerings, reports Trak.in. Almost 50-60% of the announced investment will be utilized for expanding and improving its 3G service, adds the report. Under the drive BSNL will add around 21,000 Base Transceiver Station (BTS), which includes around 13,000 BTSs dedicated for 3G services in rural areas. While, the agency has already upgraded around 660 telephone exchange to the packet-based Next Generation Network (NGN) from the old circuit-based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) technology. The NGN technology will be designed and manufactured locally by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). BSNL will also add support for Fixed mobile telephony (FMT) or alternatively called Fixed-Mobile Convergence technology, which optimizes transmission of data, voice, and video communication among users, to improve coverage while moving. Additionally, it also announced a nationwide plan to deploy public Wi-Fi hotspots across important locations like tourist and religious spots, which it had started implementing in January with a plan to add 40,000 Wi-Fi hotpsots across the country. Similar projects from private players -In February, Vodafone said that it will invest Rs 6,000 crore in Maharashtra for capacity augmentation and new business initiatives in the state. Vodafone will also use the investment for setting up a data center in Airoli as well as a payments bank headquartered in Mumbai. -In December last year, Bharti Airtel had launched Project Leap, through which it planned…
