ANDHRA PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER WANTS FIBRE OPTIC GRID

Andhra Pradesh (AP) chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, whose avowed objective is to make his state the most hitech state in India, is in negotiations with US company Lucent Technologies to provide optical fibre. Naidu wants to lay fibre optics all over the state along with power transmission lines. The fibre optic network will be used for cable television, data transmission, and Internet services.

The AP authorities are conversing with multi-systems operator Siticable (owned jointly by Zee TV and Rupert Murdoch) and Eenadu TV (the leading private satellite channel in the state) to provide content for, and manage two cable TV channels for the state government. Naidu wants the two channels to be distributed in 150 towns in the state.

Andhra Pradesh has 3.5 million cable TV subscribers, with Siticable controlling around 50% of them.