BSNL and MTNL to make India A Telephone Hub

In a major initiative taken by India’s state owned telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), every village of the country will receive public telephone service before the end of 2009. After receiving Department of Telecom’s (DoT’s) in-principle approval, BSNL has started expanding it’s installation operation for the public telephones in over 50000 villages. DoT’s Universal Service Obligation Fund will provide subsidy support for BSNL’s village public telephone scheme.

Under the ongoing Bharat Nirman programme, most of the villages of the country are being provided with the telephony services. Satellite technology has benefited nearly 5,000 remote villages, while about 30,500 villages are connected with the high-speed broadband services. WLL network of BSNL is now available to about 75 percent of the villages. More interestingly, about 11 million villagers in 2,56,000 villages are now enjoying BSNL’s GSM connection.

While BSNL is busy connecting rural folks, India’s another telecom agency Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) is working hard to start a new era in India’s telecom industry by introducing 3G mobile services in Delhi on trial basis around the crowded Connaught Place area. The much-hyped service is likely to be test-launched before the end of this month, said a market analyst. If MTNL’s first ever outdoor trial for 3G services becomes a success, Delhi and Mumbai are likely to get 7,50,000 GSM lines each to switch over to 3G services.

World Phone to offer broadband services at Rs 95

There has been a race to capture revenue in the ISP section and this is gradually warming up in India. Ideally the service provider should provide all the three services, telephone, cable TV and the internet. However due to a technological gap all the three areas have progressed in a non linear fashion.

The MTNL and the BSNL have made an attempt to provide IPTV on their telephone lines. Now World Phone Internet Services Pvt. Ltd, a leading Category “A” Internet Service Provider has tied up with cable TV providers to provide broadband services. The broadband internet service will be initially provided in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) region only.

World Phone has offered this service at the most competitive rate of Rs 95 per month. 200 MB data download per month is free with the service. The pricing is likely to be the USP. World Phone is a pioneer in offering low cost services. The company had introduced lowest calling rates to USA, UK and Australia last year.

“With the launch of our new service with an affordable tag, we would be tapping the population in Delhi & NCR. We hope that with this price tag and the quality of service, we will be able to garner at least 5000 subscriber in the first three months. Lower monthly commitment would be a strong and bold step by World Phone for enhancing broadband penetration in masses”, says Mr. Aditya Ahluwalia, Chairman, World Phone Internet Services Pvt. Ltd.

TV on your MTNL mobile

MTNL, the major government service provider in Delhi, is making efforts to introduce Mobile TV. It is also slashing broadband rates.

MTNL has introduced the Mobile TV service in the NCR region. Users will have to pay Rs 99 per month. Dolphin and Trump users can access the service.

For the broadband users MTNL has many schemes to suit the requirements of subscribers. MTNL has gone in for an across the board slashing of rates to popularize its broadband services. For Rs 99 a 2 MBPS connection with a 150 MB free download can be obtained. With the Rs 149 package the free downloads can be increased to 400 MB.