State-owned ITI on Thursday said it has signed a Rs 7,796 crore deal with the defence ministry for deployment of a strategic and secured communication network for the Army across the country.
The telecom and defence equipment manufacturer was declared the lowest bidder for the Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON) Phase IV tender in 2017.
"To strengthen the communication network for Indian Army, ITI Limited...today signed Rs 7,796 crore Phase IV Project of ASCON for deploying strategic network for secured communication across the country and subsequent maintenance for next 10 years," ITI said in a statement.
ASCON is the army's telecom network spread across different terrains in the northern, north-eastern and western regions. The project is an Internet Protocol- Multi Protocol Label Switching (IP-MPLS) based communication network with microwave radio, satellite and optical fiber network as media.
"Having successfully implemented and maintained the first three phases of the ASCON project for the last 3 decades, we have an edge in implementing this prestigious project. Having ASCON IV project at this juncture certainly gives a big boost to the Indian Army and ITI is very much excited to roll out this network," ITI Chairman and MD RM Agarwal said.
The project includes installation, commissioning and maintenance of telecom equipment like IP/MPLS routers, network managed services, mobile nodes, test equipment and civil works for providing the complete infrastructure at various sites and rollout of optical fiber network of about 11,000 kilometer.
"The scope of the project also includes a warranty period of two years and maintenance support of the network for another eight years after the warranty," the statement said.