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Airports Authority plans own Rs 1,000 cr telecommunication infra to make flights safer

The authority has issued tender inviting companies for the project which is expected to be executed at around 93 locations across the country and would be undertaken on build, own, operate (BOO) model

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After several recent instances of communication failure which put passenger safety at risk, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is planning to set up its own telecommunication infrastructure like that of Airtel, RailTel, BSNL and others at a cost of around Rs 1,000 crore.

The authority has issued tender inviting companies for the project which is expected to be executed at around 93 locations across the country and would be undertaken on build, own, operate (BOO) model.

As per the present estimate, the entire project is expected to cost around Rs 1,000 crore. This development is part of the 17,500 crore investment which the AAI is planning in the next five years for upgrading infrastructure, the works for which will be carried out through a mix of internal and public-private partnership (PPP) models.

The authority owns most of the civil aviation airports in the country and also operates the air navigation services.

The AAI plans to fund some of these projects by demonetizing its land which can be given for real estate development. To facilitate this, the government will soon also be making amendments in the Airport Authority of India Act. AAI at present owns over 50,000 acre land across the country, including in some of the metros and major cities.

As per the senior officials related to the development of the project, the decision to develop own telecommunication system started gaining grounds after several instances of glitches in the air navigation system due to poor service.

For example, there was an incident in April last year when there was an alleged loss of contact for 10 minutes between the Air Traffic Control and 85-odd planes in the Kolkata airspace due to a breakdown in the communication link of the BSNL infrastructure. This led to panic among the general public and passengers. Similar issues with BSNL's connectivity have also been reported in the past from Chennai, Varanasi, Guwahati, Katihar and Kishanganj, the sources said.

Meanwhile, on a short- and medium-term basis, the AAI has started using Indian Railways-owned RailTel for its infrastructure broadband and application services.

"Not completely satisfied with the available services which we have, it was decided that having our own setup will help and as it will give us more control over the operations in terms of safety and reliability," said a senior AAI official based in Mumbai.

RailTel Corporation, which is a 'Mini Ratna' public sector unit, is amongst the largest telecom infrastructure providers in the country, owning a pan-India optic-fibre network.

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