MTNL, BSNL launch broadband services
By siliconindia staff writer   |   Friday, 14 January 2005, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: State-run telecoms firms MTNL and BSNL launched broadband services in six cities on Friday as the government seeks to push faster Internet access in Asia's fourth-largest economy. Although India is experiencing a mobile telecommunications revolution because of rockbottom call rates, Internet and broadband usage continues to be hobbled because of archaic fixed-line infrastructure. The government, which is targeting three million broadband customers by December, has freed up several frequency bands and is mulling some tax breaks to make equipment cheaper to enable faster Internet access. "We are targeting 500,000 broadband users in both Delhi and Bombay by December 2005," R.S.P. Sinha, chairman of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., told reporters. Broadband penetration is low in India where only two in 10,000 people have a high-speed hook-up, compared with one in four in South Korea. Digital subscriber line (DSL) connections are the main route by which India expects to boost access. MTNL, also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is the dominant fixed-line phone services provider in New Delhi and Bombay. The two cities are the biggest telecoms markets in the country. New Delhi-based MTNL also provides mobile services and Internet access in these two metros, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., India's largest telecoms firm by sales, has a similar network across the country except in Delhi and Bombay. Sinha said MTNL had bought equipment worth 469.4 million rupees from Swedish telecoms gear maker Ericsson as a part of a 900-million-rupee capital expenditure plan for providing faster Internet hook-ups. Sinha said a 256 kbps broadband connection would be priced at 399 rupees a month, apart from the cost of equipment at the user's end. This price is about half the current charges for connections that are much slower. BSNL, which has sourced such equipment from U.S. communications equipment maker UTStarcom Inc., launched its broadband services in four cities. New Delhi-based BSNL plans to launch nationwide broadband services soon. Apart from BSNL and MTNL, companies such as Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., and the Reliance and Tata business groups also provide Internet access.

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