State-owned transmission utility PowerGrid secures a letter of intent from India's Department of Telecom for a national long-distance telecom license and plans to offer bandwidth on lease for its of optic-fiber backbone laid along electricity supply network.
'We are providing bandwidth to various consumers"&brkbar; Although prices have come down significantly, we are likely to break even by 2008-2009,' said PowerGrid managing director R P Singh.
Asked whether they would start offering long distance services in the country, officials said no final decision had been taken yet but they would be selling the bandwidth to other long distance operators as well as agencies and government departments.
PowerGrid has connectivity in all metros and major cities but its marked presence in remote areas like north-eastern region, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh makes PowerGrid's network precious as not many operators have reached there.