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Airtel puts Madhya Pradesh on its backbone

The launch of Airtel telephone services at Raipur and Jabalpur makes Madhya Pradesh the first India state to be fully connected by a private telephone network.

T O D A Y

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The launch of Airtel services marks the commissioning of the 2,600-kilometre backbone network to connect all five regions of Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Raipur and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

This is the largest private telecom network in India. Airtel also launched Mantra Online in Madhya Pradesh, India's first Internet service by a private telephone service.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh inaugurated the Airtel telephone service in Raipur and Jabalpur with a first call to Union Minister of State for Communication Kabindra Purkayastha.

Airtel's Internet service, Mantra Online was launched by Union Minister of State for Steel and Mines Ramesh Bais. With the launch of Mantra Online, Airtel becomes the first private telephone service in India to offer Internet services to.

Singh also inaugurated the backbone network between Raipur-Jabalpur and Raipur-Indore.

Bharti Telephone commercially launched Airtel, India's first fixed line telephone service on June 4, 1998, at Indore, Dewas and Pithampur.

It was followed by the launch of Airtel service at Bhopal, Mandideep, Gwalior and Malanpur.

Bharti Telenet is the coming together of two telecom companies: Bharti Enterprises and Telecom Italia.

After the successful launch in Indore, Dewas, Pitampur, Bhopal, Mandideep, Gwalior and Malanpur, Airtel today commercially launched its services at Raipur and Jabalpur.

Initially, Airtel would offer 15,600 lines in Raipur and 5,000 connections in Jabalpur. Today, Airtel, with over 30,000 customers connected with its network, is the largest private telephone service in the country.

It plans an investment of Rs 10 billion in the first phase. Airtel has covered the entire state of Madhya Pradesh. Bharti Telenet has already invested Rs 6 billion in Madhya Pradesh. So for, Airtel has covered Indore, Dewas, Pitampur, Bhopal, Mandideep, Gwalior, Malanpur, Raipur, Bilaspur and Jabalpur and will soon extend to Bhilai, Durg, Katni and Satna.

Today, the 461-kilometre Raipur-Jabalpur and the 351-kilometre Bhopal-Jabalpur transmission backbone were inaugurated.

It is part of the 3,000-kilometre optical fibre network that will cover the entire state.

Earlier, the launch of Airtel service at Bhopal marked the beginning of long-distance telephony in the private sector with the commissioning of a 197-kilometre optical fibre transmission network between Indore and Bhopal.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group managing director of Bharti Enterprises, said the promise of the private sector creating national infrastructure has been realised in a significant fashion with Airtel creating India's first world class telecom state in the private sector in record time.

''We have proved beyond any doubt that an infrastructure project can be successfully implemented in the private sector. Today, Airtel and Madhya Pradesh together enter the annals of telecom history.''

UNI

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