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Started by sajiv, Jul 22, 2008, 10:49 AM

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sajiv

BSNL Augmenting Broadband Capacity


Coimbatore:
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is augmenting its exchange capacity to provide 31,704 new broadband connections within the next few months, Principal General Manager of BSNL, A. Shajahan said on Saturday.

He was talking to reporters along with Francis Jacob, Deputy General Manager (Planning). Mr. Shajahan said that under three million broadband project, Coimbatore will have a capacity addition in 92 exchanges. As on date in Coimbatore Secondary Switching Area, broadband was available on demand in 76 exchanges.

The technical issue of creating user ID and password that hitherto delayed the activation of broadband lines had been resolved now, he said. In the event of a subscriber agreeing to avail a type II modem, connections could be provided instantly. Otherwise, customers should get type I modem from market for availing connections.

Out of the equipped capacity of 41,000 broadband connections, Coimbatore had 28,000 connections working lines and Coimbatore accounted for a major demand for broadband in the entire Tamil Nadu circle.

Under the broadband services, BSNL has come out with three new tariff plans - home flexi at Rs 350 and two combo plans for broadband as well as voice call usage at Rs 299 and Rs 199. These plans would be useful for the low-end broadband users.

Rural areas:
BSNL considering its obligation to the rural community is providing rural broadband in 22 exchanges such as Periapodu, Ganapathipalayam, Sethumadai, Attakatti, Ponniagoundanpudur, Kadambarai, Chettiakapalayam, Jakkarpalayam, Kanjampatty, Mannur, Mettubavi, Vadakkipalayam, Eripatti, Karattupalayam, Poolavadi, Pudupalayam, Thungavi, V. Velur, Therampalayam, Irumborai, Pallipalayam and Kumittipathi with a capacity addition of 1,400.

Wireless broadband on EDWAS technology had been planned for 39 rural telephone exchanges, he said.

WLL connections:
In technically non-feasible areas for want of cable, BSNL was providing telephone connections under the Wireless in Local Loop technology wherein 21,750 more WLL connections would be provided for which 29 base transmission stations had been planned and EVDO exchanges had been planted in 19 more locations in addition to the two existing locations.

In Coimbatore and Tirupur Short Distance Charging Areas (SDCAs), the BSNL was planning to provide full mobility for WLL subscribers. BSNL was also popularising a cost-effective unlimited network. This year, the BSNL planned to lay 300 km of Optical Fibre Cable for ensuring uninterrupted and quality service in mobile, WLL and broad band connectivity.
Cell phone service

Under the ongoing Phase IV.5 scheme, it proposed to add 56 new cell sites to ease urban call traffic congestion and provide 58,000 new connections. This will be out of the 10 lakh connections proposed for the entire State.

Two new towers under the Universal Service Obligation would be coming up at Anaipalli and TNG Palayam wherein all operators would be sharing the infrastructure. Across Tamil Nadu, 232 such cell sites would be coming up with focus on Dharmapuri and Cuddalore districts. On market share, Mr. Shajahan said that landlines were on the decrease, whereas BSNL was registering growth in the Wireless in Local Loop and cellular service segments.

:acumen

sajiv

BSNL Introduces (Kurinji Plan) for Prepaid Customers



TIRUNELVELI:

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has introduced a new 12-year validity prepaid mobile connection plan, 'Kurinji'.

According to General Manager, BSNL, Tirunelveli Telecom District, V. Raju, cost of the starter pack of this plan will be Rs. 249, inclusive of service tax of Rs.30 as free talk value. Incoming calls will be absolutely free for 12 years.

All calls made to any number within Tamil Nadu will be charged at the rate of 99 paise per minute and the calls to any network beyond Tamil Nadu will be charged at Rs.1.50 per minute.

For keeping the connection alive, customers have to recharge with at least a Top-Up Card of Rs. 100 denomination once in every six months.

Top-Up Card:

Customer can use Top-Up Card of any available denomination according to their requirement and can increase the talk value.

'Friend and Family' scheme can also be availed at 50 paise per minute within Tamil Nadu and at one rupee per minute beyond Tamil Nadu. Booster cards will be applicable to 'Kurinji Plan' also.

Connections under 'Kurinji Plan' will be provided only up to October 18, 2008.
The SIM cards can be obtained at all Customer Service Centres / authroised franchisees and agents.

For more details customers can contact 12728, Mr. Raju said.

:acumen


VelMurugan

BSNL Offers Landline At Rs. 20 Per Month

There was a time when landlines dominated the Indian telephone sector. With the advent of the ubiqutous mobile and subsequent cut-throat competition, tariffs have dropped and the mobile phone is now no longer considered a luxury. With mobile penetration even reaching remote corners of the country, the landline is struggling to maintain a loyal user base - even in rural India!

In a bid to lure users from the rural markets, BSNL has recently announced a plan in Uttar Pradesh where users have to pay a monthly installment of Rs. 20. Another option BSNL offers is a payment of Rs 200 at one time eliminating the monthly charge. With this offer, customers can avail of 20 free calls per month. With Bollywood star Preity Zinta endorsing the brand, BSNL sure hopes to strikle it rich in the landline telephone section.

As of now, this plan is offered only to selected rural areas in Uttar Pradesh, perhaps as a testing ground. If things go well, we could soon see this plan being extended to rural areas in other parts of the country.

Source : Techtree

sajiv

BSNL customer meets today at VIJAYAWADA


The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will conduct customer meets at its offices on Monday. The programme will be held at the BSNL Bhavan in the city and at the offices of the divisional engineer at Machilipatnam, Gudivada, Nuzvid, Vuyyuru, Challapalli, Kaikaluru, Nandigama and Tiruvuru.

Customers can lodge their complaints and grievances during the meet.

:acumen

sajiv

BSNL New 12-year Validity Scheme :agree

ERODE:
BSNL has introduced 'Kurinji', a new pre-paid scheme, says a release from the organisation.
With a 12-year validity, the scheme comes with a Rs. 30 talk time.

Local outgoing calls are charged at 99 paise a minute and STD calls at Rs. 1.50 a minute.

The offer
The release further says that two numbers, including a land line number, can be called at 50 paise a minute, or, alternatively, a local
number can be dialled at 50 paise a minute and an STD at Re. 1 a minute.
And, every six months the card has to be recharged for a minimum of Rs. 100.

Top-up and booster cards can be used.
After 12 years, the scheme can be changed, if the customer desires so,
the release says and adds that the offer is only for 90 days.



:acumen

sajiv

BSNL to offer rent-free connections :agree

In a bid to tap the rural market, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Wednesday said it would provide rent-free basic telephones to customers in villages.

This scheme would commence from August 1 and would be made applicable only for those rural telephone exchanges that have the capacity of 1,000 phone lines, BSNL General Manager Hari Shankar Sharma said in Kota.

For STD facility, the consumer would have to deposit Rs 500 as security money, which would be refunded when the consumer disconnects from the facility.

:acumen

sajiv

BSNL & HCL to Offer Computers, Broadband Connections

MYSORE:
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has tied up with computer manufacturer HCL to offer computers and broadband connections in Mysore under a unique bundling scheme.Announcing the scheme here on Wednesday, Mysore Telecom District General Manager S.R. Chandran said BSNL would not charge installation and registration fees for subscribers of the bundling scheme. It would provide broadband start-up packages at a discounted rate for the first 24 months.


He said the computers provided by HCL under the scheme would come with inbuilt modems, which would give subscribers relief from payment towards modem cost. HCL's Area Sales Manager Sreenath Variar said desktop computers with three different configurations and laptop computers with two configurations were part of the bundling offer with BSNL broadband connection.

"The computers are available for outright purchase or under instalment scheme from financial institutions," he said. The computers were not only competitively priced, but also come with free software, antivirus, games and songs, he added.


The all-inclusive price band of desktop computers ranges between Rs. 14,580 and Rs. 28,685, while that of laptops ranges between Rs. 14,985 and Rs. 19,080 each.Mr. Variar said the scheme had been launched in Mangalore, Udupi, Karwar and Hubli. "We have received excellent response," he claimed and hoped to do well even in Mysore. "We are planning to launch the scheme even in Bangalore shortly," he said.

Mr. Variar sought to make it clear that the computers available under the bundling scheme would be compatible only for broadband service provided by BSNL. "Broadband provided by non-BSNL service providers would not be compatible for these computers," he said. Though subscribers could opt for wireless broadband for laptops offered under the scheme, wi-fi connectivity was not available as BSNL was yet to launch data cards for the purpose.

:acumen

sajiv

Fire in BSNL office :police

CHENNAI:
A fire broke out in the Greenways Road office of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Thursday morning.
Electrical short circuit suspected.Five fire tenders were sent to put out the fire that raged for more than an hour.

Fire and Rescue Service department suspected electrical short circuit to be the cause of the fire.
The fire damaged books and magazines worth Rs.20,000, the officials said.

:agree

sajiv

BSNL Gives free SIM card :agree

ERODE
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Erode, will offer pre-paid subscriber identity module (SIM) card free of charge. A release from the telecom major says, as part of the Erode Book Festival 2008, BSNL, through is special stall, at the Festival at VOC Park grounds, will provide pre-paid SIM card worth Rs. 112 at no cost.

Those who wish to subscribe to the scheme, should furnish a photograph, copies of a photo identity card and document for address proof.


The release adds that the offer is only for a day – Thursday.

:acumen


sajiv



Only for Erode People now ,Soon will be available in your cities also

:agree

sajiv

BSNL IPO still being discussed :agree

Telecom Minister A Raja said the final call on the proposed IPO of state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will be taken after meeting with the employees' Union. The meeting is being seen as the last mile effort by the Ministry to convince the Union about the IPO. Union leaders, however, have maintained that they will not agree to the IPO under any circumstance.

BSNL is expected to dilute 5-10 per cent of its stake through the IPO, which is likely to be brought out by March next year, with the shares to be listed at Rs 300-400. Employees are expected to be offered sops, which include shares at discounted rates. It is learnt that each employee may get 500 shares at the face value of Rs 10 each.

The BSNL employees' union, which has the backing of the Left parties, admitted that the political development at the Centre may have weakened their negotiating powers. The union, had earlier, said they would resort to an indefinite strike if the Government went ahead with the IPO.

The company is in the midst of finalising a tender for 90 million lines worth about nine billion dollars. The telecom major plans to utilise the proceeds from the IPO to roll out CDMA-based mobile network and a pan-India broadband infrastructure.

:acumen

fashion

Government Approves Release of 3G spectrum for BSNL,MTNL :agree
New Delhi
The Government on Thursday approved the release of airwaves for two state-run companies for the launch of third generation (3G) mobile services in the country.The airwaves, also referred to as radio frequency or spectrum, have been released for Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) that offers telecom services in Mumbai and the national Capital, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which operates in all other parts of the country.

"We have approved the release of one block to MTNL and another block to BSNL," Communications Minister A Raja said.The spectrum block released for the two companies has the size of 2X5 MHz in 2.1 GHz, and in the bandwidth of 2.5 GHz at 2645.0 MHz.Raja has also approved release of a block of 20 MHz broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum each to the two public sector utilities.

:acumen
Do Wat You Like

fashion

Mega IPO in the offing - BSNL will be up for grabs

It is the first big ticket disinvestment by the
government. Get ready for a mega IPO, possibly in this financial year.It is Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) this time.India hopes to raise Rupees 40,000 crores in the country's largest-ever IPO through a share sale in BSNL.But the government officials, on Thursday, said that it would take a decision only after talks with trade unions.In January, this year, the government had expressed its plans to list BSNL but the work soon took a backseat after the Left parties that propped the UPA government opposed the move

The government seems to have put forth the plans only after the Left deserted it on another unrelated issue.
Five to ten per cent of the stake will be up for grabs for the public.
So now, BSNL's 304,000 employees will get to buy 500 shares each at Rupees ten a piece and the IPO would be in a between Rupees 300-400 per share.
But it is not through, yet. Another round of talks will be held with trade unions, which have been resisting the stake sale.

:acumen
Do Wat You Like

sajiv


BANGALORE: Karnataka Circle of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) will roll out three lakh mobile phone connections in rural areas by October this year.

BSNL will erect 321 towers in 26 districts across the State for this. The project is part of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) scheme launched by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Apart from BSNL, two other private cellular service providers will erect 106 towers offering over one lakh mobile connections under the USO scheme. In all, there will be 427 towers in remote areas offering over four lakh mobile connections. Although different service providers erect these towers, all the three enlisted service providers will share the towers, thus offering choices to consumers to choose between the companies.

A senior BSNL official told The Hindu that the towers would strategically be located at places which hitherto had no telephone connectivity.DoT had invited tenders for providing mobile connectivity through 7,871 towers in 500 districts throughout the country under USO a few months ago.

All the towers were expected to be erected and commissioned by December 2008. Under the second phase, DoT aims at erecting 11,000 towers throughout the country to offer over 11 million mobile connections, tenders for which would shortly be called. To execute the USO scheme with regard to mobile connectivity, Karnataka Circle had been divided into four clusters. While BSNL had to erect towers in three clusters, private players would erect it in one cluster. As of May this year, seven towers had been erected.

USO was conceived in 2002 realising the need for telephone penetration to rural areas and hinterlands. The funds for the scheme were raised through universal service levy at the rate of 5 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue of all telecom service providers in the country.

:acumen

sajiv

BSNL launches new plan  :agree

TIRUNELVELI: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has launched a new prepaid mobile plan, 'Oorum Uravum', which provides the public the facility of speaking to all of their friends and relatives at the rate of 40 paise per minute.

According to the General Manager, BSNL's Tirunelveli Telecom district, V. Raju, the customers seeking SIM cards under this scheme will be allotted a mobile number starting with 94,876 and all calls made to any mobile customer within Tamil Nadu starting with 94,876 will be charged at the rate of 40 paise per minute. All other calls will be charged under Excel General and Saral Anant, depending upon the plan.

These special SIM cards will be sold in the areas where new towers are commissioned recently and also during the road shows, melas and for educational institutions. SIM cards under this scheme will be available till the stocks last, Mr. Raju said.

:acumen

sajiv



BSNL mela:The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will conduct a reconnection and new connection mela at Chennupati Petrol Bunk, MG Road, on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This is open for phone numbers starting 247, 248 and 249. The areas that will be covered are Krishnalanka, Ranigarithota, Bundar Road, Brindavan Colony, Labbipet, Venkateswarapuram, Chandramoulipuram, Fakirgudem, Sriramnagar and Ramalingeswar Nagar.

:acumen

sajiv



Broadband service to enable high-speed Internet facility in rural areas will be made available in Kodagu shortly, General Manager of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), Kodagu, T.V. Venkatram said here on Tuesday.He told presspersons that commissioning of broadband equipment was under way in rural exchanges, which would be completed soon.

Besides, "data cards" were being introduced in the district to provide wireless Internet access, Mr. Venkatram said. The service, offered at Rs. 250 a month, enables subscribers to have unlimited access to high-speed Internet.Among the new schemes, zero or reduced rental for rural areas (with less than 1,000 lines capacity) has been introduced with two options. Under the first option, a customer could pay Rs. 250 and no monthly rent would be collected for two years, he said and added that only the calls would be charged. Under the second option, a customer could pay monthly rent of Rs. 20 and he would get 20 free calls a month, Mr. Venkatram said.

For urban centres, a customer could pay rent for 10 months in advance and avail of telephone service for 12 months, he said. Customers can also pay 18 months' rent in advance and avail of telephone service for 24 months.

Mr. Venkatram said that revenue collection under the Kodagu Telecom District in 2007-08 was about Rs. 18 crore, which was almost the same as the previous year. Reduced STD tariff and other concessions could have been the reasons for not making additional revenue last year, he said. The district had 41,000 landline connections in the 76 exchanges and there were over 1,400 broadband users, he said. The network of exchanges has been connected by optical fibre cable, spanning over 850 km in the district. Almost all 291 villages in the district had been given village public telephone connections.

Over 5,000 connections were working in as many as 13 WLL (wireless in local loop) stations in Kodagu, Mr. Venkatram said.Deputy General Manager of BSNL Vishnu Moorthy, Chief Accounts Officer M.C. Krishna Bhat, Divisional Engineer Janardhan Naik and Sub-Divisional Engineer Lingappa Gowda were present.

:acumen

sajiv

BSNL Introduces several New Scheme

The BSNL, Puducherry has launched several new schemes for its customers to commemorate the 62nd Independence Day.A release issued by the BSNL Puducherry, office said customers can send SMS to "04132900198" to clear their doubts on any of the telecom services provided by them.

A new prepaid SIM card KURUNJI with 12 years validity had also been launched, the release further said. The new SIM card priced at Rs. 249 has a talk time value of Rs 30.While local calls to any network mobile and landline will be charged 0.99 paise per minute, STD calls will be charged at the rate of Rs. 1.50 per minute, the release said.

On the Independence Day, the staff of BSNL along with their direct selling agents organised a "free SIM Thiruvizha" near its office to provide the facility for those interested to join the scheme, the release said.

:acumen

VelMurugan

BSNL plans CDMA foray

NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom operator BSNL has invited global CDMA handset makers for tie-ups as it readies plans to launch full-fledged mobile services on this technology platform across the country.

The telco, which is currently investing about Rs 2,000 crore on a CDMA network rollout, will offer bundled handsets. Its move spells big business opportunities for CDMA majors such as China's ZTE and Huawei, Samsung, LG, and Nokia, among others.

At present, BSNL offers mobile services on the GSM platform across the country, except in Delhi and Mumbai, and has about 38 million customers on this technology platform. The telco does not offer bundled handsets with GSM connections.

In a communication to all handset manufacturers, BSNL has said that it will enter into tie-ups at both the national and state level on a non-exclusive basis for CDMA devices. Handset manufacturers have been asked to submit their replies by August 19, along with technical descriptions and the price of the models they plan to offer.

"BSNL will monitor the performance of the handset manufacturer and the arrangement may be terminated if the latter does not meet the requisite standards. The offered (handset) models should be locked for use in BSNL network only. The manufacturer should also offer a 2-year replacement guarantee for all handsets. BSNL reserves the right to functionally test the offered devices. The responsibility for marketing of the scheme shall be shared by BSNL and handset manufacturer on mutually agreed basis," the PSU's communication adds.

BSNL has also added that if it receives limited response, then all bidders fulfilling the eligibility criterion will be selected and be allotted circles, zones or even be made pan-India partners.

"In case a large number of players respond, then the evaluation of bidder will done based on the strength of the company (turnover, distribution channel, after-sales centres etc), suitability of offered product (specification , features etc), cost competitiveness etc, " the BSNL communication said.

BSNL's move to offer full-fledged CDMA services comes even as existing players in this segment such as Reliance Communications and the Tatas are moving to the GSM turf. In the initial stage, BSNL will limit its CDMA offerings to the top 500 towns and cities across India.

Early this year, the government had approved BSNL's proposal to offer CDMA services and granted it a full-fledged CDMA mobility licence and spectrum to launch services. BSNL is in the process of setting up 10,000 towers for its CDMA networks.

Source : IndiaTimes

sajiv

BSNL Customer Service Centre

In Chennai R. K. Nagar Customer Service Centre (CSC) of BSNL, Chennai Telephones will be open on Sundays and holidays.A Chennai Telephones press note said the CSC would be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on holidays.

The services include sale of prepaid and postpaid cards, sale of duplicate SIM cards — much needed in the event of a mobile getting lost — and sale of recharge/top-up coupons.
Value-added services

Apart from providing value added services like STD/ISD/GPRS/call conferencing, booking of complaints relating to mobile, landline and broadband would be accepted.Customer feedback would determine inclusion of more services, increasing the working hours or extending this feature to other CSCs in the city, the press note said.

:acumen

VelMurugan

NEW DELHI: State-owned BSNL has set an ambitious target of starting next generation 3G mobile services in December to take a lead over private operators and has placed the purchase orders for the northern, eastern and western zones.

In a communication to all Chief General Managers of telecom circles or districts, BSNL has asked them to take further necessary actions at their end so that 3G services are launched by December, 2008.

While announcing the 3G policy, Communication and IT Minister A Raja had given the advantage to telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL of allocating 3G spectrum ahead of others with a condition that both will pay the price equivalent to the highest bid.

This was done keeping in mind the cumbersome process to procure equipments by the PSUs vis--vis by the private players.

"The 3G Purchase Orders (POs) issued earlier by the circles of north and east zones were kept in abeyance because of non availability of 3G spectrum. As the 3G spectrum has now been allocated to BSNL, the 3G POs will become effective from the date of issuance of this letter (August 11, 2008)," BSNL said in the letter.

Whereas for the western and southern zones, the POs for 3G equipments has been placed with the ITI under reserve quota.

While releasing the radio frequency for the PSU, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has said that one time spectrum fee at a price equal to highest bid as determined in respective areas is payable by BSNL.

"Further, BSNL is also to pay annual spectrum usage charge of one per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) after a period of one year from the date of earmarking of frequencies that is August 8, 2008," BSNL said.

Source : IndiaTimes

sajiv

BSNL to Expand Mobile Broadband network coverage in Erode

BSNL plans to expand its mobile network coverage in Erode, Tamil Nadu.
The service provider intends to set up 40 towers out of which 11 have already been laid down. The recently erected towers give coverage to Kannivadi, Mettukadai, Pattuthurai, Vellitirupur, Paruvachi, Periya Puliyur and other areas.

The establishment of rest of the towers is under progress. In order to support additional mobile traffic, the company has reportedly added nine towers in Erode, Gobichetti-palayam, Sathyamangalam and Dharapuram. In total, Erode has 170 towers to support 1.61 lakh customers.

:acumen

sajiv

BSNL plans mela

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will organize a two-day BSNL mela at the BSNL Customer Service Centre, Buddha Junction, Mavelikara here from August 22.

Addressing a press conference, BSNL Alappuzha General Manager T. Natarajan said the mela would offer customers land phone connections, mobile post and pre-paid connections, Internet connections and re-connection of landlines that were disconnected due to defaults in bill payments.

The mela, which would be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days, would not charge the rent for the period during which the phone was disconnected and would not charge interest fines either.Re-connection charges too would be avoided apart from offering 10 to 20 per cent discounts on arrears above two years, Mr. Natarajan said.

:acumen

sajiv


sajiv

BSNL introduces new plan

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has introduced a new plan,
Gramin-75, for its fixed and WLL (Wireless in Local Loop) customers in rural areas, with exchange systems having capacity between 1,000 and 29,999 lines. The fixed monthly charge is Rs.75, and the customers can have 75 free calls a month.

According to a release, it has reduced the fixed monthly charges for Sulabh Plan from Rs.120 to Rs.99 for its fixed and WLL customers in the exchange systems having capacity of more than 29,999 lines. The pulse rate would be as per general plan and effective from September 1. Customers had been requested to visit the nearest customer service centres,

website: www.bsnl.co.in
or dial 1500 or 1550


:acumen

sajiv


BANGALORE: The Central Bureau of Investigation's Anti-Corruption Branch sleuths on Wednesday arrested a Bharath Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) official in Hubli for allegedly accepting bribe for clearing a bill.

The CBI sleuths caught G. Brahmaiah, Deputy General Manager of BSNL's optical fibre project, while he was allegedly accepting Rs. 5,000 to clear the outstanding bills of a material supplier. As part of the investigation, the CBI sleuths searched Mr. Brahmaiah's office and residence in Hubli.

The CBI sleuths have recovered Rs. 26.4 lakh in cash kept in separate envelopes and boxes. They recovered documents related to a house in Vijayawada and a site in Mysore. Mr. Brahmaiah was found having Rs. 1.7 lakh in three bank accounts. The CBI sleuths have recovered 881 grams of gold and 4.85 kg silver ornaments.

The CBI is questioning Mr. Brahmaiah about his assets and about the cash found in his house and office, said an official press release.

:acumen

sajiv


PUDUCHERRY: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Puducherry, will introduce "CDMA prepaid service" on Monday. As part of the launch, a special booking camp will be held the same day at the Villianur telephone exchange and the BSNL main office on Rengapillai Street.

According to a release, the CDMA prepaid service (prepaid WLL Telephone service) had a one-time initial payment of Rs. 1,733 including all taxes with an introductory offer of talk time worth Rs. 900.

Various recharge coupon denominations such Rs. 55, Rs. 224, Rs. 336, Rs. 561 and Rs. 1,122 would be available.

:agree

sajiv


VELLORE: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has introduced prepaid service for CDMA WLL with effect from Monday.

A release said the service would enable the subscribers to access voice and SMS at the most affordable rates. At present, the prepaid service was available on Fixed Wireless Terminals with limited mobility. This was for the first time that such a service had been introduced on CDMA WLL. The BSNL offered four prepaid service plans. They include General Plan, Plan-1, Plan-2, and Plan-3. Talk time worth Rs.900 would be given free to subscribers who preferred Plans 1, 2 and 3. Free talk time worth Rs.150 would be offered to subscribers who preferred the General Plan, the release said.Application forms for this service was available at all Customer Service Centres in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts.

More details could be obtained from BSNL Customer Service Centres or by dialling 1500/1550.
Information could also be obtained from www.bsnl.co.in.


:acumen

sajiv


TUTICORIN:
Prepaid wireless in local loop (WLL) service was launched here on Thursday by General Manager, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Tuticorin, N. R. Natarajan.The inaugural call was made by the General Manager from a core division multiple access (CDMA) instrument to a global system for mobile (GSM) number.

Briefing mediapersons, he said that 2 lakh mobile connections would be launched before December.A new scheme, 'Dial up Internet,' would be made available free of cost for about two months from September to October with the number, 172222, for access.The BSNL was in the process of installing 34 towers to provide uninterrupted connectivity for cellular phone users. Five more towers would be commissioned shortly, the General Manager added.He said 29 more towers would be set up before the end of December.

Wireless broadband: The other schemes to be offered included wireless broadband with speed up to 2.4 Mbps for a fixed monthly charge of Rs.550 for unlimited download. Broadband through landline would be available from October in Tuticorin and other important towns of the district.The scheme of free internet access through landline on post paid scheme, introduced on September 1, would be extended upto October 31.

New scheme for landline: Mr. Natarajan said that a new scheme landline scheme had been introduced with a fixed monthly charge of Rs.99 and Rs 1.20 as charge per unit.In home broadband category, two new schemes had been introduced.


:acumen

sajiv


MALAPPURAM: Telecom major Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will offer free Internet service to NetOne users in September and October. The user will have to pay only phone charges till October 31. Internet can be accessed from NetOne phone by dialing 172222. The charge will be Rs. 1.20 for a pulse of 450 seconds during day.

For details Call : 12678.

:acumen

ganeshbala

Hi Sajiv...

Thanks for the Information///

is the Offer valid allover the India....

its a Great Offer For all the BSNL internet Users...

:acumen

sajiv


3G spectrum auction to begin from Sep 8:
The government is set to begin the process of e-auctioning radio frequencies for telecom operators on Monday, Sep 8 for rolling out 3G services across the country. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will hold a pre-bid conference here with all the potential consultants, one of whom would oversee the process to e-auction spectrum for the next generation mobile applications, officials said.

The finer details of exactly how the auction will be conducted are expected to be discussed at the conference. The DoT has already announced the guidelines related to specifying the reserve price, the eligibility criteria, revenue share and rollout obligations of successful bidders. The 3G mobile services allow a wide range of applications such as high-speed Internet access, video calls, fast music and video downloads, interactive gaming and global positioning over the Web.

As per schedule, potential service providers will have to submit their technical and financial bids by September 22.Those who qualify will need to make a presentation before the DoT on September 24, the date when the technical bids will also open, the officials said.

The financial bids of qualified bidders will open on September 26, and the government hopes to finalise the successful players by September 30, the officials added.State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) have already been allotted frequency spectrum for 3G telephony.

The two companies, however, will have to pay the government amounts equal to the highest qualified bidder among the private players.In accordance with the recent decision, an auction will also be held for 3G mobile phone providers who use the CDMA technology platform. The earlier plan was to allocate the scarce frequency spectrum on the basis of higher subscriber base.

''The same auctioneer will oversee the e-auction of 3G spectrum for both the CDMA and GSM players,'' the DoT official said.The e-auction will be conducted separately for each circle as the reserve price is different across circles and the availability of 3G spectrum is uneven across the country.

:acumen

VelMurugan

3G auction process to start today

NEW DELHI: The Indian government is set to begin today the process to e-auction radio frequencies for telecom operators to start third-generation (3G) mobile services across the country and fetch the exchequer over Rs 400 billion ($10 billion).

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will hold a pre-bid conference here with all the potential consultants - one of whom would oversee the process to e-auction spectrum for next generation mobile applications, officials said.

"The process for selecting the agency to manage the e-auction process will be taken up in the pre-bid conference," a senior DoT official told IANS.

The 3G mobile services allow not only much faster communications but also a wide range of applications such as high-speed Internet access, video calls, fast music and video downloads, interactive gaming and global positioning over the Web.

As per schedule, potential service providers will have to submit their technical and financial bids by Sep 22. Those who qualify will need to make a presentation before the DoT Sep 24 - the date when the technical bids will also open, officials said.

The financial bids of qualified bidders will open Sep 26, and the government hopes to finalise the successful players by Sep 30, the officials added.

The state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which offers its services in Delhi and Mumbai, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) that operates in the rest of the country, have already been allotted frequency spectrum for 3G telephony.

The two companies, however, will have to pay the government amounts equal to the highest qualified bidder among the private players.

In accordance with the recent decision, an auction will also be held for 3G mobile phone providers who use the CDMA technology platform. The earlier plan was to allocate the scarce frequency spectrum on the basis of higher subscriber base.

"The same auctioneer will oversee the e-auction of 3G spectrum for both the CDMA and GSM players," the DoT official said.

Source  : IndiaTimes

sajiv


Coimbatore:
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Coimbatore, has announced that cellular signal transmission towers have been commissioned in the district at Othakkalmandapam, Sencherimalai, Vedapatti and Chinnavedampatti.It has introduced prepaid facility on BSNL Wireless in Local Loop Service with effect from September 1, as a promotional offer.

Talk time of Rs. 900 will be free with a validity period of 90 days. Call charges for BSNL network within Tamil Nadu would be 60 paise a minute and call charges for other networks within Tamil Nadu would be 90 paise a minute.

:acumen

sajiv


GUNTUR: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Guntur has given several offers to users of land line in rural areas. The minimum monthly charges have been cut down to Rs.75 from Rs.110 and users could have 75 free calls.

A minimum of Re.1 would be charged for the first 300 calls and Rs.1.20 would be charged from the next call.

The minimum monthly charges for Sulabh Plan were reduced to Rs.99 from Rs.120. The offers could be availed by subscribers of Rs.110 monthly rental plan. The BSNL has also given massive offers on Excel recharge coupons and the offers were available on recharge coupons of Rs.500 and above. A talk time worth Rs.625 was being provided on recharge coupon of Rs.500, Rs.1,125 on Rs.1000 recharge coupon, Rs.2,500 on a recharge coupon of Rs.2,000 and Rs.7,500 on a recharge coupon of Rs.5,000. The offer would be valid till Oct. 17.

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VelMurugan

3G iPhone on BSNL soon!

NEW DELHI: The much sought-after  3G iPhone  is coming to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) network. The country's largest telecom service provider BSNL plans to launch Apple iPhone by December 2008.

Quoting a senior BSNL executive, a leading business daily reported that BSNL will introduce Apple's 3G iPhone for its subscribers across the country by December along with the launch of the third generation network.

The official said that BSNL is scheduled to hold a meeting of its circle heads at the end of this month, where it may take a decision on making iPhone available to consumers.

This means, unlike rivals Vodafone and Airtel, who currently hold licence for 3G iPhone in India, 3G iPhone on BSNL may actually support 3G services right from its launch.

BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) are the first two government operators to get 3G licence. BSNL along with MTNL was given a head-start by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to roll out 3G services in the country.

While the private telecom companies have to acquire 3G spectrum through a process of bidding, both the public sector units have already been allotted spectrum on a pro-rata basis.

MTNL is reportedly installing 1.5 million 3G lines in the first phase in Delhi and Mumbai and plans to tie up with the content providers on revenue-sharing basis to enrich its high-end services. According to company officials, MTNL's network should be ready in the next two months in Delhi and four months in Mumbai.

Source : IndiaTimes

sajiv


VELLORE: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Tamil Nadu Telecom Circle, has introduced a customised special prepaid package, 'Mega Super Plan' scheme, with effect from September 11.

According to a release from BSNL, Vellore, the plan offers low cost tariff for local calls at 49 paise per minute, a tariff of 25 paise per minute for five BSNL numbers of friends and family (one of which being a landline), and 3,000 free SMS. The initial cost of the SIM card is Rs.249 (inclusive of all taxes), initial talk value Rs.50, and validity for 365 days. All mobile calls within Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would be charged at 49 paise per minute, while BSNL mobile to BSNL landline/Wireless in Local Loop phones within Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would be charged at 49 paise per minute. STD calls to BSNL numbers would be charged at Rs.1.20 per minute and to other networks at Rs.1.50 per minute. STD calls between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. would be charged at Re. one per minute. This promotional scheme would be valid for 90 days from September 11.

:acumen

sajiv


THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Onam has brought some sweet tiding for the officers and employees of the Kerala Circle of the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). The innovative marketing 'melas' conducted by the BSNL Circle has become a national model.

In a communication to K.S. Srinivasan, chief general manager, Kerala Circle, BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal has said that the example set by the Kerala Circle, beginning with a highly successful marketing initiative in Thiruvananthapuram in mid-July, was being referred to all the other territorial circles of BSNL for initiating similar action.He pointed out that 'in the present competitive scenario, which is going to become tougher, such initiatives are necessary.'

Result of mela: The BSNL Kerala Circle had conducted 24 'melas' in 11 districts raking in additional revenue of Rs.1.82 crore. The 'melas' had also resulted in registration for 7,653 new landline/WLL connections, 2,428 broadband internet connections, 10,549 mobile prepaid connections and 1,482 mobile post-paid connections besides revival of 6,012 landline connections through a one-time-settlement process. Recharge coupons and ITC cards worth Rs.2.93 lakh were also issued at these 'melas'.

Staff's contribution: The 'mela' was a unique experiment for the public sector behemoth which is faced with stiff challenge from the more fleet-footed private players. Employees, cutting across political and trade union affiliations, were taken board through an elaborate exercise in creation of stakeholder awareness. Hundreds of employees worked without a care for the clock to make the 'melas' a roaring success. The experiment was later replicated successfully in other parts of the State.

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nandagopal

State owned telecom operator BSNL today announced that it would extend broadband facility to all districts and blocks of the country by March 2009.

At present, it has covered about 95 per cent of the district headquarters and about 44 per cent of the blocks, said an official press release. The company also plans to extend broadband coverage to 1.48 lakh villages in the next six months compared to only 30000 villages now.

To further its reach the BSNL's broadband will be expanded to 5000 cities by March next year. Now it covers 3261 cities in the country.

Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja had recently announced that the India Government would initially connect 5000 blocks by wireless broadband soon after the allocation of the spectrum, with support from the USO fund.

Villages coming within a radius of 10 km of the block headquarter shall be covered by such connectivity and would benefit institutional users like schools, public health centers, village panchayats and the community service centers, meant to provide e-governance and data services to the rural areas.

In order to promote expansion of rural wire line and wire line based broadband services, the Government had recently decided to waive off the license fees for rural wire line.

BSNL has already floated zonal tenders with plans to procure 93 million lines to extend coverage of GSM mobile services to all the villages in the country having more than 1000 population. The procurement of the lines will be done in a phased manner.

Through this expansion, BSNL will also introduce value added services like mobile TV, mobile broadband, MMS, location based services etc.

In order to boost telephony in rural areas, BSNL recently introduced a tariff plan called 'Gramin 75', under which fixed monthly charges have been reduced from Rs.110 to Rs.75, the release said.



Kalyan

BSNL, C&W ink network sharing deal

Public sector telco giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has inked an agreement with Cable &Wireless India to offer managed network services (MNS) in a bid to boost revenues from corporates and leverage its vast network spread across the country.

ET had first reported on August 15 BSNL's plans to enter the MNS space. "BSNL is focusing on broadband, network monitoring and managing MPLS networks for big corporates as the next big growth area. We have plans to invest roughly $10-billion on network expansion over the next three years, It is therefore important for us to partner with a leading and trusted telecom provider such as Cable &Wireless, who have one of the most resilient network infrastructures available" BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said in a statement in Mumbai.

Managed network services typically include voice/data integration services, virtual private network (VPN) services, network management, performance management, guaranteed service levels, fault management, change management, configuration management, security (firewalls), application outsourcing and data centre services.

The companies will offer each other a full suite of these telecom services besides basic, leased line and local lead services on a preferred client basis.

"We intend to be the first customer-defined communications services business. Our prime focus is to understand what our customers' business priorities are - and how we, as a partner, can help achieve them. Our new relationship with BSNL will enable us to have a laser focus on identifying and delivering a range of services to our customers in India," said C&W India MD Sunanda Das said. C&W has an ILD and NLD license in India.

sajiv


TIRURNELVELI: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's Tirunelveli telecom district has introduced a new pre-paid cell phone plan, 'Mega Super Plan.'According to V. Raju, General Manager, BSNL, Tirunelveli Telecom District, new SIM cards with talk value of Rs. 50 and one year validity are given for Rs. 249 under this scheme. Mega Super plan users can send 3,000 SMS messages free of charge every month. In addition, they can choose five BSNL numbers as 'friends and family numbers' and talk to them for 25 paise per minute. One of these five numbers should be a BSNL landline number.

All calls made to BSNL landline and Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) telephones in Tamil Nadu and calls to all cell phones in Tamil Nadu are charged at 49 paise per minute.Calls to private landline and WLL telephones in Tamil Nadu are charged at 90 paise per minute, calls to all BSNL landline / WLL telephones and BSNL cell phones outside the State are charged at Rs. 1.20 per minute and calls to all private numbers outside Tamil Nadu are charged at Rs. 1.50 per minute.

All calls made within Tamil Nadu from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be charged at Re 1 per minute.Mega Super plan users have to recharge with top-up card of at least Rs. 30 once a month and SIM cards of this plan can be obtained from all BSNL customer service centres, authorised dealers and direct selling agents up to December 9

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sajiv


Coimbatore: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is conducting a BSNL Mega Mela on September 24 and 25 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at a number of places across the district.

A release from the Principal General Manager of BSNL said that Mega Mela would be conducted at BSNL showroom at Udumalpet on Palani Road, Karuppa Gowder Street, near Thermutti bus stop, Coimbatore City and at telephone exchanges at Ganapathy, Thudialur, Mettuppalayam, Pollachi, Palladam and PP Pudur (Tirupur).These mega mela centres would be a single point contact for the communication needs, that too with special offers and discounts.

To facilitate easy access to our customers and to all the details of BSNL products and services such as BSNL mobile cellular prepaid/post paid Subscriber Identification Module (SIM), recharge coupons, GPRS, RTMS, BSNL Broadband, wi-fi, BSNL landline, wireless in local loop phones, India Telephone cards, call now cards, fixed line prepaid (FLPP), BSNL PCOs, CDMA, Wireless in local loop prepaid, sancharnet, netone, CDMA, WLL internet, free EPABX, free centrex, attractive schemes/plans, offer/bonanza will be made available to the visitors.

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sajiv


TIRUNELVELI:
Business rivalry between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and a private telecom major has badly hit the mobile phone services of the public sector undertaking after the private company started transmitting its mobile phone signals in a particular frequency range, which is already being used by the BSNL.Though the BSNL had installed 108 Base Trans-receiving Stations across Tirunelveli and actively engaged in the exercise of installing more towers to strengthen mobile phone service in every inch of the district, the signals being propagated by the BTS of the BSNL are not able to reach the subscriber effectively.

"As the mobile starts ringing, the signal goes down suddenly and at one point, the signal cuts off abruptly even as the conversation is going on. Of late, BSNL subscribers have to make a minimum of three calls to complete even a crisp discussion," says T. Jayaraj, owns a stationery shop at Palayamkottai.Another problem being faced by the BSNL mobile phone subscribers is the overlapping of signals from various BTS situated around any particular area.

"Though the nearest BTS to my residence close to Sarah Tucker Higher Secondary School is the Palayamkottai BTS, my mobile receives signals from Anbu Nagar, Kulavanigarpuram and even Melapalayam BTS besides the signals from Palayamkottai tower also. Such frequent overlappings result in abrupt disconnection of the call. If the call ends suddenly due to this technical fault when you are conversing with your superior or an official, it will send wrong signals to them," said K. Mariappan, employee of a public sector undertaking.

The General Manager, BSNL, Tirunelveli Telecom District, V. Raju, told The Hindu that the mobile phone frequency being used by a private telecom company without getting permission from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was the reason behind this problem."When a doctor from South Bazar in Palayamkottai brought to our notice all these problems, harmonic filters were installed in the nearest BTS to sift the mobile phone signals of the private telecom major and BSNL's mobile phone service around this BTS fitted with harmonic filters is excellent. If we receive complaints about a particular BTS, then we'll equip it with the filters," Mr. Raju said.

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sajiv


Coimbatore:
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has announced that Ondipudur Telephone exchange will be parented to Ram Nagar OCB MSU telephone exchange from Coimbatore central telephone Exchange E-10B and Telephone numbers 2270, 2271, 2272 and 2273 levels will be re-routed from central telephone exchange to Ram Nagar OCB telephone exchange on September 30 due to technical reasons. Subscribers with STD/ISD dynamic locking facility are requested to re-register their password on October 1. Service will be interrupted for a short duration during the said period.

For assistance: Customers are requested to contact BSNL authorities,
Ondipudur over Phone numbers: 2270000; 2272727; 2230799; 94861-05121.

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sajiv


CHENNAI: BSNL Chennai Telephones, in collaboration with OnMobile Global, has launched a phone data back-up service for post-paid subscribers and active GPRS users in Chennai. It will enable customers to retain personal details on mobile phones in the event of loss, theft, damage or upgrades.

GPRS users can go to the link http://pb.bsnl.onmobile.com/bsnlwap/wap and download the free software to backup data. Users without GPRS enablement can subscribe by sending SMS <SUB> to 58989. They can start backing-up by <ADD> <NAME> <NUMBER> or sending their contacts as business cards to 58989.

Monthly subscription is Rs.30. To unsubscribe users have to SMS <UNSUB> to the same number. As a promotional offer, it is being given free to all post-paid users and active GPRS users for one month with effect from October 1.

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sajiv

#46
Rajahmundry: BSNL East Godavari Region is now providing latest technology that is available in the metros to customers in the region.BSNL General Manager G. Raghavendra Rao and Deputy General Manager G.V. Manoj Kumar announced the launch of CDMA 1-X technology for its customers on the eve of its ninth Foundation Day celebrations at a press conference here on Tuesday.



The CDMA 1-X is a NIC card, which could be inserted in laptops. A cable with a mouse and a mini phone, which could be utilised for Internet and phone were also being provided. It could be used for desktops also.Mr. Raghavendra Rao said that the mobile Internet connectivity was limited to the four districts of East Godavai, Visakhapatnam, Viziangaram and Srikakulam. The customer could buy an entire set for Rs.2,800 or pay Rs.1,000 in advance and pay Rs.150 every month.

He said that telephone directory would be released on the eve of Formation Day and added that they could also provide broadband connection on demand in Rajahmundry and Kakinada areas.Mr. Manoj Kumar said as far as cell towers were concerned, some 16 new towers were erected in the district in the last one month and already 83 were installed in the district, including one in the Agency. They would hit a century by erecting 100th tower in Maredumilli. He said that in reconnections East Godavari district stood first in the State and had collected a revenue of Rs.33 lakhs in a month.

Call centre: Mr. Raghavendra Rao said that the call centre 12678 was open to take complaints and rectify the problems related to broadband. He also said they had decided to change instruments that were more than 5 years old with CLIP phones.As far as arrears were concerned it had crossed Rs.6 crores and they would come out with a plan of action to recover them shortly.

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sajiv


VISAKHAPATNAM:
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to erect additional towers for its mobile connections in Visakhapatnam district during 2009-10 to provide three lakh additional connections, General Manager of Visakhapatnam Telecom District P. Nagaraju said here on Tuesday.BSNL has 98 towers at present, 65 in urban area and 23 in rural area. It has 1.55 lakh mobile connections. Work was completed on 11 towers in the rural area and work is progress on 28 towers in rural area and 18 in the urban area and would be completed in two to three months.Mr. Nagaraju gave this information while addressing a press conference on the eve of BSNL's eighth formation day celebrations to be celebrated on Wednesday (October 1).

There was a drop in the landline connections, from 1.43 lakhs last year to 1.34 lakhs at present while the number of mobile connections was on the increase as 25,000 were issued. However the thrust on the rural area by adding more equipment in rural exchanges, increasing the brand band connectivity by installing 54 stations out of which 17 were ready for commissioning, customers' increasing interest in the WLL phones should arrest the drop in the landline connections, he said.

Mr. Nagaraju also noted that the BSNL's share in telephone density in Visakhapatnam district has gone up from 3.76 per cent during 2001-02 to 7.44 per cent at present. The cell connections were 11,000 when BSNL introduced the facility in March 2003 but shot up to 1.55 lakhs at present, though BSNL was a late starter in this area. It has 20,000 dialup internet connections and 17,000 broadband internet connections.Thanks to the entry of BSNL the tariff in mobile and landline areas had come down. It has a market share of 22 pre cent to 25 per cent.

Wi-Max facility: Visakhapatnam would be the first in Andhra Pradesh to introduce the Wi-Max facility, All required equipment has been installed and the commercial tariff advice was awaited as the facility was introduced as a pilot project in Gujarat, Mr. Nagaraju said.BSNL had also recently introduced CMDA WLL prepaid service and CDMA wireless internet with data roaming in three north Andhra districts and East Godavari on an outright purchase of EVDO and NIC. The EVDO has a maximum speed of 144 kbps and the speed would be increased soon to 2 mbps.

Mr. Nagaraju said BSNL had declared 2008 as the year of customer care and introduced an insurance scheme for all its B-fone, WLL and post-paid mobile customers since January and extended the benefit to the public telephone franchisees from August.Also present at the press conference were DGMs G.V. Ramana Rao, J. Prabhakara Rao and L. Malleswara Rao and Area Manager K. Nana Rao.

:acumen

dwarakesh

The nation's biggest public phone provider, BSNL, has made dial-up Internet access free for all landline customers. There is no registration, no hassle.

How to go about it:

If you have a BSNL telephone connection, it will be simple to set up the free account using the standard options of the browser, once you have plugged the telephone jack into your PC or laptop. Against "User name" or "User identification," enter your telephone number preceded by the STD code minus the zero (for example, if you live in Chennai and your phone number is 23456789, your User ID is 4423456789). Against "password," enter your telephone number (example 23456789). You are all set to browse the Internet through the all-India dial-up number 172222.

When we tried out the free service, we obtained speeds quite close to the maximum you can expect with a dial-up modem which is 56 kilo bits per second — and a good bit faster than some paid dial-up services!

Of course, you pay local call charges for the duration of the surfing, but this is much less at off-peak hours BSNL has partnered with the Ahmedabad-based Elitecore Solutions, which already provides the billing solution for its Net One service as a franchisee.

Anil Jain, BSNL's Deputy Director-General for Broadband, told The Hindu that over 1,000 users had signed up daily since the launch. The scheme is promised till October-end, but there are indications that it will be extended.

Awesome initiative

This is a clever way to increase the number of landline subscribers. But why look a gift-horse in the mouth? Free Internet is something few nations have ever offered — and to do this across a country as big as India is an awesome initiative indeed.

Source: The Hindu

sajiv


ADILABAD: In connection with its 8th formation day of Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), some new schemes were announced at Adilabad on Wednesday. General Manager M.L. Narasimha Rao said the BSNL rededicated itself to 'customer care' that was the mantra in the highly competitive market.

At a press conference here, the General Manager and Deputy General Manager (A&P) P.S. Subramanyam and others disclosed the details of some new services launched in connection with the celebrations. Mr. Narasimha Rao said installation charges on new landline connections would be waived up to December 31, this year.

The mobile power pack-225 would allow the customer to choose five BSNL numbers comprising at least one landline that would be charged at the subsidised rate of 30 paise per minute. There was and offer of extra talk value on recharge coupons of Rs. 562, Rs. 1,124, Rs. 2,247, Rs. 3,371 and Rs. 5,618. The Internet access charges would also not be levied up to December 31

:acumen