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BSNL to test-launch WLL services by Aug

Our Bureau

KOLKATA, July 1

EVEN as the debate on whether telecom operators should be permitted to offer limited mobility based on WLL (wireless in local loop) technology continues, the Union Minister of State for Communications, Mr Tapan Sikdar, has announced that Bharat Sanchar N igam Ltd (BSNL) will test-launch limited mobile services by August.

Commercial operations, however, are expected to take off by the year-end. The technology to be adopted for limited mobility services has been developed by Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT).

Mr Sikdar informed newspersons here that the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the vexed issue was unlikely to affect BSNL's proposed plans in the cellular telephony arena. He admitted that the commercial launch of the propo sed cellular service had perforce been deferred several times earlier on account of technical problems. Efforts were now geared towards overcoming the technical glitches.

The proposed limited mobility service would take off in about 20 cities across the country in a phased manner. The Minister brushed aside objections from private cellular operators and said they were welcome to offer limited mobility based on WLL technol ogy.

On the issue of a fourth cellular operator in the telecom circles, he informed that a total of seven operators had applied for 57 licences across different telecom circles in the country. Batata and Bharati were applicants for the Kolkata circle. However , there have been no fresh applications for the West Bengal circle where Reliance Telecom is the monopoly operator at present.

In basic telecommunications, the idea was to achieve a teledensity of 7.5 per 100 by 2005 and a teledensity of 20 per 100 by 2010, he said.