Sri Lanka, October 2, 2006 - Sri Lanka Telecom and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) of India have jointly launched the  Bharat-Lanka Cable System (BLCS). Bharat-Lanka Cable will be seamlessly connected to SLT's domestic network and its international connectivity which include SEA-ME-WE 3 and SEA-ME-WE 4 optical fibre submarine cables and multiple satellite connectivity for Sri Lanka to become regional telecommunication facilitator.

BLCS Cable Route

The commissioning of the Bharat-Lanka Cable, both Indian and Sri Lankan customers would benefit by competitive international Private Leased Circuits (IPLCs), Broadband Internet, direct and transit International Direct Dialing (IDD) traffic, Internet Protocol (IP) backbone networks, and multimedia content services etc. The cable will increase BSNL's connectivity and could create substantial bandwidth and both the companies can inter-connect their IP-MPLS (IP based multi protocol label switching) network to facilitate Global VPN services of the valuable customers.

In addition, the customers at the Sri Lankan side of the Bharat-Lanka Cable will have better connectivity enabling added access to multimedia content and broadband services such as movies, music, etc. while actual real-time audio and video streaming facilities will be further enhanced.

The commissioning of this
Bharat-Lanka Cable will allow for another avenue of redundancy to SLT, which will further secure existing connections, such as this link's predecessor SEA-ME-WE 3SEA-ME-WE 4 and other on hand line-of-sight microwave links.

The new cable capacity will also lead to a further extension of the broadband capability of the IP backbone network, which will allow for higher speeds and better effectiveness in transfers between two countries. Superior reliability and greater connectivity will also be effects of adding this cable's capabilities to SLT's existing network.

The commissioning of the
Bharat-Lanka cable system comes in the wake of the agreement which was signed between BSNL and SLT last year, for a submarine cable system between the two countries and the Construction and Maintenance Agreement was also signed last year.

In addition this joint venture would provide an invaluable platform for further development and the initiation of many business partnerships and relations between the two neighbouring companies. 

This
Bharat-Lanka Cable project historically would be the biggest joint investment between India and Sri Lanka and would be a manifestation of corporation and strong links that bind these two countries together.