The Hindu Business Line : BSNL to invest Rs 130 cr in TN for cell connections

BHARAT Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will invest Rs 130 crore in the Tamil Nadu circle by mid-April to provide two lakh more cellular connections, according to Mr K. Mahadevan, Chief General Manager, Tamil Nadu Telecom Circle, BSNL.

Mr Mahadevan told a press conference here on Tuesday that BSNL's Tamil Nadu circle had 3.3 lakh cellular subscribersand the network was completely saturated. As such, the company had placed the purchase order with Motorola for supply of equipment by December 2003 for the additional lines, he said. It has also sought further augmentation of 80,000 lines to bring the total to 2.8 lakh lines.

A further investment of Rs 25 crore would be made on the Intelligence Network platform, which would add another one million lines by mid-April. The network platform serves the Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala circles.

Mr Mahadevan said negotiations were at an advanced stage with some banks with ATM facilities where the BSNL prepaid card could be recharged.

The international roaming service that BSNL introduced in some parts of India from February 1 will be introduced in the Tamil Nadu circle by April. Calls coming in on the international roaming service will be charged at Rs 75 per minute on a 60-second pulse. For post-paid outbound roamers, a fixed monthly rental at Rs 99 will be charged from those willing to avail themselves of this service.

International call charges will be according to the network selected by BSNL post-paid subscribers, with a surcharge at the rate of 15 per cent on such amount. The security deposit will be enhanced to Rs 7,500.

On SMS services, Mr Mahadevan said the Tamil Nadu circle had introduced billing details through SMS for cellular post-paid customers. Customers wanting to use this service can send an SMS to 333 with a message `BILL' to receive a detailed SMS indicating the amount billed, the bill number and the last date of payment.

Further, the CellOne mobile service has come out with a variety of loyalty schemes to stay competitive in the market, Mr Mahadevan said. He said BSNL was offering a new tariff plan to all existing new mobile Wireless in Local Loop customers from March 1 this year.

In order to increase the b-fone (land line) subscriber base in the BNSL network, it has been decided to waive the installation charges for the phone connection for two months.

BSNL has also introduced the One-Thirukkural-a-Day service. The calls will be charged at existing STD rates. Chennai customers can access this service by dialling 1250 on local access rates. B-fone subscribers can also listen to the messages of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt by dialling 044 1250 115; Tamil Nadu customers can also access this service by dialling 95 44 1250 115. Both the services are in association with Dialnet.

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