BANGALORE: India's largest telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has aggressive expansion plans for the southern state Karnataka.

BSNL's Karnataka circle, Bangalore Telecom, yesterday announced the release of 1.1 million SIM cards for mobile phone users, as well as increased broadband connectivity for Karnataka in the coming fiscal.

 
 
The announcement was made during the release of an updated two-volume Bangalore supplementary directory listing BSNL connections across the entire state.

BSNL is pumping in Rs 2.54 billion to increase mobile connectivity from its existing 700,000 connection base to 1.1 million and doubling its terminals to 2,654 over the next four months. Chief general manager -Karnataka Circle S Ramaganapathy said that mobile connectivity would spread to 343 towns in addition to the existing 319 centers. Of the 1.1 million new connections announced, around 1 million would be pre-paid, while the rest would be post-paid.

 
 
An additional 45,000 wireless local loop (WLL) lines (which don’t require telephone cable connecting the instruments) have been commissioned to clear the waiting list for landline connections in rural areas.

Additionally, 700 kilometers of optical fiber would be laid by the end of the month.

Ramaganapthy also highlighted the success of Bangalore Telecom's Data-One broadband service saying that 20,000 connections, including 6,000 in Bangalore alone, had been given. BSNL plans to introduce broadband services to Mangalore by the end of this month and cover 13 more districts in the state over the next three to four months.