The Hindu Business Line : Cell phones: BSNL aims to catch up with Airtel in AP

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), though a late starter, has made considerable inroads into the mobile phone market in Andhra Pradesh and currently has 14 lakh connections and four lakh connections more will be added by the end of the financial year, according to Mr R.K Arnold, Chief General Manager, AP Telecom.

At a press meet here on Wednesday, he said that by March, 2006, there were 12 lakh connections in the State and two lakh connections could be added in the first six months.

"We are confident of reaching our target by the end of the year. In the initial months, there were some capacity constraints. However, during September alone, we could add one lakh more cell connections. We will keep up the tempo," he said.

Base stations

He said that 323 more base stations were set up during the current financial year till now, taking the total to 1624, and 146 would be added by March. "During 2007-2008, we want to add 15 lakh more mobile connections. We have a 36 per cent market share now, second only to Airtel, and we want to catch up with them," he said.

Referring to landline connections, Mr Arnold said there were 30 lakh connections or so and BSNL was aiming at 6 per cent growth.

Broadband services were launched in all the district headquarters and major towns and currently there were 61,640 connections in the State. "It is proposed to provide 1.58 lakh broadband connections during the current financial year," he said.

Internet services

He said the rentals for "sulabh" connections had been reduced in the Andhra Pradesh telecom circle and there were plans to provide Internet services in public places. Initially, the service would be available at 21 locations in Hyderabad and three in Visakhapatnam.

He said BSNL was coming up with handset bundling with Nokia and Motorola vendors and services would be available from this month.