DELHI, India, September 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Target 4,000 Units in 19 Industrial Estates in the First Phase
Service Rolled out in 5 Estates to Service 2000 Units

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has extended its Wireless
Broadband to offer an enterprise quality service to industrial units in Goa
Industrial Development Corporation (Goa IDC), a semi-state government body.
BSNL's technology partner, US based SOMA Networks Inc., has deployed the
first of its kind enterprise quality wireless broadband service using its
award winning FlexMAX System in five industrial estates viz. Verna, Kundaim,
Pilerne, Tivim, Colvale. Goa IDC, a semi-state government body, has inked an
agreement with BSNL to provide this service to 4,000 units in the first year,
as a part of its infrastructural support provided to the industrial units in
these enclaves.

Speaking at an occasion to inaugurate the service at Verna
Industrial Estate, Mr. Digambar Kamat, Honourable Chief Minister(CM) of Goa, 
said, "Industrial growth in Goa is a state priority, and I am heartened to 
see that world's leading technology infrastructure will now be made 
available to industries in Goa, which is emerging as an industrial hub for 
Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, Food Processing and Agro-based industries. I 
commend Goa IDC for taking such a progressive step that will help us 
prominently place Goa on the industrial map of India."

Goa IDC has packaged attractive incentives to promote
industries in Goa, including a strong institutional network to support the
financial needs of the industries and create awareness of various central
government and RBI schemes. It is now working on offering infrastructural
facilities at par with anywhere else in India. Mr Palekar, MD of Goa IDC
said, "Our focus is to enable industries in Goa to become competitive in
international market placees of the globalized world. The high-speed wireless
broadband Internet connectivity will enable industries to use applications
like Video Conferencing, Wide Area Networking, and Surveillance Systems like
CCTV; it will also provide access to centrally and remotely hosted
applications."

BSNL's partner, SOMA Networks, has invested in rolling out the
network for this wireless broadband, and will manage the service on behalf of
BSNL. Earlier this year, BSNL and SOMA rolled out a similar service for
Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) in 99 estates with speeds
up to 2Mbps. Mr Yatish Pathak, CEO and Founder of SOMA Networks said, "By
offering high speed broadband to the units in their enclaves, Goa IDC will
help bring about digital revolution to spur industrial growth in Goa.
Broadband access is critical for businesses to collaborate and connect with
their partners, suppliers and customers anywhere in the world and gain access
to the latest information on technology, research and markets. Our
partnership with BSNL has helped integrate our technology with their
world-class fibre backbone network to rollout this enterprise class service."

Apart from Goa IDC units, enterprises like SESA-Goa are also
customers of BSNL-SOMA's broadband service in Goa. BSNL has partnered with
SOMA Networks to deploy WiMAX service in Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra
Pradesh. SOMA's Wireless DSL technology, using FlexMAX, requires one-third
the time it takes to install other telecom infrastructure, which means it can
speed up the country's broadband penetration more rapidly than any other
technology available today.

To learn more about SOMA's service offering with BSNL, please call 
toll free: 1-800-2-33-66-00, or visit: http://www.wimax.bsnl.in

About Goa IDC

The Goa Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) was
established by the Government of Goa, in February 1966 under the provisions
of Goa, Daman and Diu Industrial Development Act, 1965 with the aims and
objectives of securing and assisting in the rapid and orderly establishment
of industries in Industrial Areas and Industrial Estates in Goa. One of the
important activities of the Corporation is setting up of Industrial Estates
and offer developed plots to industrial units.

In pursuance of the above objectives, the IDC has so far
established twenty Industrial Estates in Goa, Daman and Diu, viz Corlim,
Margao, Sancoale, Daman, Mapusa, Tivim, Bicholim, Kakoda, Honda, Bethora,
Canacona, Kundaim, Diu, Tuem, Verna, Cuncolim, Pilerne, Marcaim, Pissurlem
and Colvale.

http://www.goaidc.com

About BSNL

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed in October, 2000, is one of
world's largest Telecommunications Company providing comprehensive range of
telecom services in India: Wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet,
Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, IN Services etc. Within a span of
five years it has become one of the largest public sector unit in India.
Today, it has about 29.6 million line basic telephone, 5 million WLL, 45
Million GSM, more than 38700 fixed exchanges, 40000 BTS, 197 Satellite
Stations, 560000 Rkm of OFC Cable, 50000 Rkm of Microwave Network connecting
624 Districts, 7330 cities/towns and 5.5 Lakhs villages. http://www.bsnl.in

About SOMA Networks

SOMA Networks, Inc., helps service providers and their
subscribers access the world with WiMAX. As a leading provider of Mobile
WiMAX products and professional services, SOMA's FlexMAX(TM) Mobile WiMAX
System, SoftAir(TM) Multimedia Application System, and global professional
services provide a complete platform that accelerates service providers' time
to market with revenue-generating applications that bring broadband to the
home or business. SOMA is a principal member of the WiMAX Forum(R), and its
FlexMAX Mobile WiMAX System supports the 802.16e-2005 Mobile WiMAX standard.
Deployed on five continents, SOMA is headquartered in San Francisco and has
offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Delhi, Sao Paulo and Singapore.

For more information, visit http://www.somanetworks.com

Nalini Dhody
    DGM - Brand Marketing & PR
    +91-124-6685000
    +91-98102-50014
    W: http://www.somanetworks.com
    E: ndhody@somanetworks.com