NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1997 MAY 8 (NB) -- By C. T. Mahabharat. Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL) has bagged two turnkey projects worth US$28 million to set up telecom networks in two African countries, Madagascar and Ghana.

Under the US$12 million turnkey project bagged by TCIL, the company will provide telecom equipment and install a local telecom network for Ghana Telecom Co., to the subscriber end. "We will also undertake civil projects -- laying of jelly-filled cables and PVC pipelines -- for use of optical fiber in future. Subscribers will get voice, data, fax and Internet services on the completion of the project," the TCIL chief informed.

The project for Ghana Telecom Co. is to be completed 18 months and is expected to benefit about 10,000 subscribers.

Currently, Ghana has only 42,300 telephone lines and has a telephone density of 2.4 lines per 1,000 persons. The cities are connected by microwave radio relay and international lines by one Intelsat earth station near the Atlantic Ocean.