Nortel and India's Chhattisgarh State Enhance Communications With WiMAX

Nortel is teaming with India's Chhattisgarh State Government to modernize its communications infrastructure through a new, high-bandwidth State Wide Area Network (SWAN) which will - for the first time - connect all the departments of the state. The Chhattisgarh SWAN (CG SWAN) is a hybrid network with a mix of wireless and wireline access supporting voice, data and video traffic. It will be one of the largest fixed WiMAX deployments in the country for e-government, providing access to 3,000 locations in the State.

The CGSWAN will also serve as the backbone for various state departments to deploy IT-related applications for the general public. Central to the Government of India's National e-Governance Plan are Common Services Centers (CSCs) set up in easily accessible areas to enable people to conduct all their government-related work.

"With SWAN, we will be able to connect our offices not just at the headquarters level, but right down to the local administration levels even in remote, inaccessible areas," says Aman Singh, chief executive officer, Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society (CHiPS). CHiPS is a division of the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, Government of Chhattisgarh.

Nortel's wireless network ensures faster roll out in the State which has thick forest cover and other inaccessible locations. The network will cover all the locations in the state for the last mile through fewer cell sites which means the rollout will be faster with WiMAX while ensuring lower total cost of ownership.

Posted to the site on 25th November 2008