HYDERABAD: BSNL plans to add another three to four million mobile connections in the second year. Company chairman and managing director Prithipal Singh said BSNL planned to cover 500 cities by the end of the current year. "There are apprehensions whether BSNL is prepared to launch cellular service and we want to say that we are on the right track," he said while launching the call centre for cellular operations for the southern zone. He said BSNL would operate cellular services in a zone basis, with a call centre for each of the four regions. Admitting that competition was growing in this world of fast changing technologies, Singh said tariff alone would not matter. "There is a limit even to the tariff. The main point is the quality of service and we are focusing on it," he said. "We are for the common man," he said, pointing out that BSNL had about 30 percent of its network of 350 million basic telephone connections in rural areas. Singh noted that telecom infrastructure is growing at 25 percent, making it the only one among infrastructure sectors to grow at this speed. "There is huge potential as teledensity is low," he said, announcing that BSNL would provide a million wireless in local loop (WLL) connections by this yearend in areas where it was difficult to lay cables. Singh said BSNL was laying emphasis on value additions and going for broadband services, faster Internet connectivity, unlimited bandwidth and interactive TV. BSNL, he said, would provide these services in some top cities in the next six months. The chairman said BSNL was also working on innovative packages for customers of fixed telephone lines, including a special rebate on occasions like birthdays and marriage anniversaries. "We are in the process of finalising vendors for marketing the packages," he said, adding that the packages would also cover billing. Developed at a cost of 400 million, the BSNL call centre in Hyderabad will cater to mobile customers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The call centre will provide general and commercial information about the service. The BSNL cellular service in Andhra Pradesh will be launched in the first week of November. The company aims to provide 160,000 mobile connections in 111 towns in the first two months. The first phase, however, will not cover nine important cities in Andhra Pradesh including Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Tirupathi. The cities were identified for a pilot project, but the launch was delayed due to a dispute with private operators.
Source: IANS