Now, SMS on fixed-lines in India
Thursday, 21 August 2003, 19:30 IST
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SRINAGAR: Close on the heels of launching mobile phone services in Jammu and Kashmir, India's biggest telecom operator plans to expand its network to 800 towns and to provide short messaging service (SMS) on all fixed-line phones. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) chief managing director Prithpal Singh said the SMS service would soon be available to all its subscribers in India, including those using fixed-line phones. Speaking to reporters here a day after BSNL launched its mobile phone service in Kashmir, Singh said: "Forty million fixed-line phones are being provided in the country by BSNL in addition to the connections already available." As part of plans to improve its services across the country, interactive television and video too would be made available to subscribers under broadband services being started by BSNL. "We are also going to furnish value-added services to Internet users in the country," Singh said. BSNL authorities in Kashmir have been overwhelmed by the public response to the mobile phone service that was launched Wednesday by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed making a call to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi. Every day, thousands of people throng counters at BSNL offices across Kashmir to pick up applications for the mobile service. BSNL plans to accommodate over 42,000 subscribers in Kashmir, including 13,000 each in Srinagar and Jammu. A draw will be held on August 27 to select the first batch of connections.
Source: IANS
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